


LoK & Transformers: A Meeting of Metal and Flesh

by ReaderJohn



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, The Transformers (IDW Generation One), Transformers
Genre: Crossover, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-03
Updated: 2019-11-03
Packaged: 2021-01-22 12:04:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 23
Words: 50,156
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21301766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReaderJohn/pseuds/ReaderJohn
Summary: The world of the Avatar has reached a level of calmness since the fall of the Earth Empire.     People are rebuilding what was lost to the conflict.   However, the universe is full of unknowns both wonderful and terrifying to behold.    And one such unknown is about to pay a visit.For good or ill.
Relationships: Bolin/Opal (Avatar), Korra/Asami Sato
Comments: 8
Kudos: 7





	1. Arrival

The first sounds that could be heard were the blaring klaxon alarms. Something was wrong, very wrong. Audio receptors were working this much was obvious, but their optics could only see darkness. With nothing but hard surface above and below they crawl forward into the unknown. An awkward reach for anything within their grasp only meets emptiness and a sudden fall. **THUD **A crash onto metal flooring gives a momentary spot of pain, a good sign that one lives. "Ow."

The fumble proved fruitful as the low glow from the emergency lights that fill the room reveal it to be the bridge. They reach up to grasp the console above their head, the metallic fingers finding purchase. They struggle to their feet, joints feeling rusty and worn. "What happened here?" They try desperately to make sense of the situation as they observe the area for any signs of life. Smoke rises from scorched plating, sparking wires dangle from torn sections of the walls, and pipes dispelling gases freely. They reel in horror when their optics regain focus and reveal the state of the ship's crew.

Their smoldering bodies were twisted and torn with horrid expressions imprinted on their faces. The Lone Survivor views the carnage, every victim littered with numerous gruesome wounds. "Oh Primus, they're all dead."Through surveying the scene their head turns towards the front of the room expecting a screen, but its eyes only meet a gaping breach in the hull. What laid before was the unknown yet familiar void of space, and in the distance suspended in this endless expanse was a ball of blue, green, and white; a planet.

Solemnly they turn their attention back to present matters. Brushing aside the debris from the console, its holographic panel still surprisingly functional. Their hands work quickly to ascertain the condition of the craft, current location, and where the quarry might be. The results of the search were not welcoming, the craft was barely running, multiple hull breaches on all decks and most of the escape pods were all destroyed with a few missing from their holds. They ponder over the given data for a moment. "No matter, all I have to do is contact a communications buoy for Vanguard to.." Dull red eyes go wide with fright and shock as the reality of the situation is laid out before the Lone Survivor.

There it was on the screen plain to see. **To any survivors, Stratus has gone rogue. Mission: Apprehend at all costs. Dead or Alive.**

Metal fists collide with the console destroying it, trying to shut out the terrible order given in its final moments. "No, it can't be true. Why?! How did this happen?" They wanted to ignore this terrible lie and find her on their own merits, but something within them twitched reminding them of the given mission and that is must be completed. A quick scan detected anion trail, giving a clear indication that the traitor went to this undocumented world. The metal-being rushes to the flight control console in the forward section of the bridge and begins inputting commands to the crippled craft; plotting a path to follow the trail to its predetermined conclusion. The engines sputter to life resulting in the hulk's creaks and moans over the sudden acceleration. The Lone Survivor leaves the bridge and enters an elevator, traveling to the deep interior of the vessel.

The ship flies forward, dutifully following its last orders. The forward hull begins to shave off piece by piece as the heat of re-entry engulfs the craft, warping the weakened shell. The inhabitants of the mountainous region would merely see this as a harmless meteorite tobe, not knowing that within it lies a being desperately trying to stop one of its own. Their lives lie in the hopes that there is still time before this world is contaminated by their presence.


	2. Agonizing Wait

***tap, tap, tap*** _She's late_. Asami had just finished her breakfast at one of her favorite local outside diner impatiently waiting for Korra. She had tried to busy herself with the various papers filled with charts, budgets, material and personnel requisitions, and messages from the four nations of what they are able to allocate to her efforts of the reconstruction. Unfortunately, the only thing that occupies her mind is the gnawing absence of someone she had spent a month in the Spirit World.

Upon coming back they went straight to work with Asami discussing with President Raiko and the Four Nations on what needed to be done to relocate and rebuild Republic City. Korra was needed to help with Wu's conversion of the Earth Kingdom into self-elected nations. Mako was kept busy with maintaining law and order with the displaced populace. Opal and Bolin, on loan from the Republic police, are aiding with their efforts to route any remaining Kuvira sympathizers and lend general aid to those in need. However, those months thankfully passed with haste and today was supposed to be the day Korra comes to visit Asami and the gang to catch-up with everyone and hopefully get some relaxation. Though before coming to see her Korramentioned she wanted to check up on the Tenzin's' family and the airbenders.

Frustration sets in Asami's mind. She begins to develop a frown when thinking to herself, _What is wrong with me?! I need to be more patient. Korra has been away for months, she's barely seen Tenzin and his family. I had a whole month with her to myself! Plus we've had constant contact with each other through the portable radio I made for her. It is natural she would spend a little more time with them. _A look of disappointment over herself sets in. _This last month hasn't been easy for my girl. She said that there is something upsetting the spirits. She hasn't been able to figure out why and it's stressing her out. _She flicks her hair away from her face to get a better view of the road where Korra is supposed to come from. _Maybe I should ask her for "private" lessons on meditation, it would certainly help make all this waiting more bearable_. A bright blush covers her face at the thought of intimate training with her lovely one.

Asami wistfully continues to stare at the horizon, her thoughts of Korrafinding their way back to the time they spent together in the Spirit World. Both of them learning what they meant to each other. They saw incredible landscapes of vibrant colors and met so many different spirits. Korra even took Asami to see the legendary Iroh, who challenged her to the most intense game of Pai Sho she had ever experienced. The love-struck girlfriend of the Avatar sighs deeply, hating that such a blissful time had come to an end too soon.

***BEEEEEP!***Asami is startled out of her daydream by the sound of a car horn from its angry driver trapped in rush hour traffic. Greatly annoyed at this new development she utters to herself, "Great, now she'll definitely be late." Her gaze falls upon the reports beside her finished breakfast along with an unread newspaper. "Well, I can pass the time by seeing what's in the news today." Asami skims through the daily, with the saying a watched pot never boils repeating in her mind, she pays little attention to anything related to the Avatar. Her focus, however, is captured when she uncovers the front page news from under the pile of papers. Her eyes quickly digest its contents, picking the article apart for anything of relevance.

_ **Rampant Scientist Kidnappings Continue. 4 new victims to mysteriously disappear this month. Fear spreads through the United Republic's scientific and industrial communities. Republic City PD is baffled as to who or what is committing these acts.** _

Asamiplaces the newspaper down, her longing to be with Korra now replaced with worry. These kidnappings started three months ago, starting atCabbage Corp. shortly after their re-opening. She had increased security at Future Industries, even going as far as to have the possibly targeted employees transported under heavy guard to ensure their safety. At first, it was just mechanics and laboratory assistants that were being taken**, **but in the last two weeks, there was a sudden shift to geologists, chemists, and physicists. What's more is that the ones being kidnapped are the newly graduated, usually having at most two years of experience. She had spoken to Mako previously about these kidnappings, only to be told that they have no leads and that the areas where they were taken showed no signs of resistance.

_Mako and Chief Lin have been working tirelessly to figure this out. _She could tell that from the darkened circles under his eyes that he has had many sleepless nights looking over the reports. She's tried numerous times to get him out of the office, which to her irritation he has begun to sleep in, but he wouldn't budge. Mako would always retort with, "I can't take a break while there are people being taken from their families."

Still, Asami tries her best to convince her friend to take some measure of alleviation for himself. "I understand what you are saying, but you need to take care of yourself." She places a large bag onto his desk containing bento boxes, drinks, and snacks. "If you don't eat and get some rest, you won't be able to operate at your best." Mako slumps in his chair sighing in defeat muttering, "Korra wouldn't rest." Glaring at Mako, Asami slams her hands on his desk drawing the looks of his fellow officers. "Yes she would, Korra needs her rest just as much as anyone!" She looks upon the surprised detective, giving off a domineering aura and leans into him with a whisper, "And if she didn't want to, I would make her." Asami swiftly points to the bag, "Now eat!" The fiery engineer collects herself and leaves Mako to his meal.

_In hindsight, I think I could've handled that situation better, but he can be so stubborn. _Quietly staring at the newspaper Asami begins to wonder that with all of this happening, just how long will this peace last till some other catastrophe occurs. _Rampantkidnappings, somethings wrong with the spirits, and the only thing I can do is provide food for Mako. Something is very wrong and I can't do anything to help Korra figure out what it is._

Random, chaotic thoughts ran through the engineers' mind, feeding this sense of helplessness and despair over her perceived lack of ability to help resulting in Asami screaming out, "Why can't things just stay quiet and peaceful?!" She despised this feeling of powerlessness over the situation, of not being able to help Korra and her friends when they so desperately in need of it. She rests her cheeks on her thumbs with her fingertips rubbing her forehead. _No, no. Don't focus on what you can't do, focus on what you can do, __**for her**__. __It's been almost a year since Kuvira's defeat and Korra still has a lot of work to do until the balance is restored. Right now the best I can do is to listen, be supportive, and try, however brief, relieve her of the burdens she carries._

Daring to peek through her fingers with her left eye, Asami gazes down the street hoping her unrequited efforts will finally have value. She sees a faint outline emerging from the horizon. Her hands quickly fall to the table, pushing herself upward from her seat for a better look. A smile crossed her face as the Avatar comes into full view, riding her ever-faithful polar bear dog Naga. Asami uses her chair to leap over the table and makes a full sprint towards her dearest; yearning to feel the contours of her strong arms, the warmth of her chocolate skin, the sea salt smell of her hair. Unfortunately for Asami, Naga too has rushed forward to greet her and it's not because she wants the Avatar to get to her faster.

Her nose catches a sweet scent as she walks up the hill carrying her friend. She raises her head to see Asami's face, all wide-eyed and happy to see her. _MastersFriend! I remember her! I love her! Must give hug!_

"Whoa Naga! Whoa!'' cried Korra as her mighty steed joyfully sprints towards her target. Asami stops in her tracks as her face changes from joy to bewilderment as she sees the impending collision, but it's too late. Naga pushes off with her legs, soaring into the air.

***GLOMP***

Naga stands over Asami as she assails her with face-licking affection. Asami hysterically laughs over the ridiculousness of the situation."Easy Naga, easy! I missed you too." Korra dismounts smirking over the scene playing out before her. Still amused she quips, "If I didn't know any better I'd say you missed Naga more than me."

The engineer stands and fixes her messed up hair with a quick wrist flick after slowly prying herself from the polar bear dogs clutches stating, "It's not my fault she misses me. Maybe if the world would quiet down you wouldn't need to be gone so much." Korra'sface saddens in acknowledgment, "I know what you mean, especially since it's been so long after dealing with Kuvira."She looks away from Asami, who is returning Naga's affections with petting's while rubbing her arm nervously, "I really wanted to spend more time with you, but things aren't going as well as I hoped."

Asami suddenly stops petting Naga and turns towards her girlfriend with a worried look and asks, "Korra, what's wrong?"

Korra, looking down in self-disappointment, replies, "Me and Jinoraspent close to an entire day in the Spirit World, but we left with more questions than answers."

Asami, puzzled, asks "What do you mean?"

"They're terrified of something, but they can't or won't say what." Asami could hear the distress in Korra's voice. "We think it's a spirit overwhelmed with negative energy, but if that is the case then why haven't I or Jinora sensed it?"

Asami chimes in with, "Could a spirit hide its presence?"

Korra's muddled over the new thought. "Maybe.. but if that is the case, then it's not mindless which makes it even more dangerous." TheAvatar continues, "I had hoped to never see the spirits in such a state again after defeating Vaatu." Korra fiercely rummages her fingers through her hair to coax a solution from a tired mind."Gah! I'm at my wits end with.." She is stopped mid-sentence by Asami, who pulls her into a swift, tightening hug. Korra returns the affection with equal measure, closing her eyes and basking in the engineers' warmth. She breathes in the aroma of Asami'shair. _Whoa, I forgot what you used to smell like, mmm. _Asamilessens her hold on the Avatar and slowly trails her hands up over the taunt muscled back till they ever so gently clutch her head. She tilts Korra's head back so that she can gaze into those sea-blue eyes. She intensely blushes from Asami's tender actions.

The engineer leans forward to lightly kiss her chocolate forehead, then whispers faintly to her ear, "Don't worry you'll figure this out. Everyone is here for you. I'm here for you." Asami slowly releases herself for a better look at a tomato red Avatar.

"Thank you", Korra says with a trembling voice. She takes a minute to compose herself before asking, "So.. what do you have planned for us today?"

Asami replies, "Well, the original plan was to meet up with Bolin and Mako for lunch, but with traffic the way it is right now they'll be a while." She thinks on what to do before the light-bulb in her head flicks on. "Aha! I have just the thing," she says with a knowing smile.

Korraraises an eyebrow, "Oh? What has my tinkerer thought of?"

Asami wiggles her index finger replying, "Uh-uh it's a surprise."She turns her attention to their polar bear dog, who has been patiently waiting with a drooling breath. Asami singsongs to her, "Oh, Naga?" The cute canine tilts her head with an inquisitive expression. "I know it's been a long journey for you and Korra, but could you take us to one more place, please?" "You'll get a nice big piece of salmon." "RUFF!" Naga is ecstatic over the thought of being rewarded with yummy fish as she lowers herself for the riders. Asami mounts up first to take the reins followed by Korra. "Alright, Naga. Let's go!" 


	3. Murphy's Law

***HONK!******HONK!***"Come On!" "Move it!" "I've got places to be!"

*sigh* _Spirits give me the strength to resist ticketing everyone here for noise level violations. _They were so late and this traffic jam will make them even later. Mako had just returned from picking Bolin up at the docks, which required him to wait for fifteen minutes before he would let go of Opal. After leaving it became a race against time to avoid the highway traffic. Mako and Bolin pooled their knowledge of roadways to evade the mid-day human migration. Alas, it was all in vain because Mako forgot to read the construction reports of what roads were being worked on.

_Damnit, we are going to be so late. A cop must always know what roads are being serviced to avoid being caught in traffic. You'd think I wouldn't make such a rookie mistake after being promoted to Lieutenant._ Mako could feel the familiar hand of Bolin on his shoulder.

"Relax Mako, if you keep pinching your nose you'll snap it off."

He lowers his hand back to the steering wheel. "I know, it's just...look," quickly gesturing his arms to the vehicles around them, "we're stuck here in traffic when we are supposed to be having lunch with Korra and Asami."

Bolin nodded in acknowledgment, "True, true, but think of it this way," he slips his arm around Mako to hug him, "we get to spend some much-needed quality time together."

Mako couldn't resist smiling from his brothers' positive attitude. "Yeah, we haven't done that for a while have we?" "I've been busier than ever since my promotion, you and Opal have been traveling all over the Earth Kingdom."

His brother nodded in agreement, drawing a love-struck smile, "Yup, me and Opal saving people; righting wrongs, spreading a message of love and peace for all." Mako smirks from Bolin's last words, "Let's just hope that this actually stays that way."

**"wwwwooOOOOOORRRRRRRRRR"**

Their faces freeze and eyes go wide as the significance of the roaring sound begins to register within their minds. It only takes a split second of eye contact for them to acknowledge what their next actions should be. Bolin jumps out of the vehicle and swiftly readies his body for a task it knows all too well. Gaining a solid stance he forces the bridge barriers from his position to the highways'off-ramp ahead to tilt outwards, then extends them giving Mako just enough room to drive on. Mako grabs his radio, "This is Lieutenant Mako responding to a possible Code Three at Future Industries factories, I am being assisted by Officer Bolin." He maneuvers the car out of the traffic lane, siren blaring to warn vehicles ahead of his impending arrival. Bolin leaps into the passenger seat as his brother picks up speed.

"You think it's anything serious?!", Bolin asks yelling to make sure his brother hears him.

"Anything like that has to be serious which could mean there is trouble."

Bolin interjects with, "And where's trouble.."

Mako finishes, "there are Korra and Asami right in the middle of it."


	4. Conflict Renews

The trio headed towards the industrial sector of Republic City, making a beeline to Future Industries property. The sounds of construction flood the area; the clanging of metal, speeding delivery trucks and their drivers tirelessly working to deliver materials, and the sizzling of natural and artificial torches cutting and fusing metals. They continue to ride east, bearing for the dock area while leaving behind the sounds of industry for the more quiet setting of ocean waves. Rows of identical buildings appear on the landscape ahead except for one. Asami slowly pulls back on Naga's reins urging her to slow down, allowing Korra to get a better glimpse of its exterior. The structure is larger than the others, its color is of the Southern Water Tribe, and the twelve-foot tall double sliding doors have Raava's sigil embedded into them. They dismount and while Korra looks on in amazement while Asami directs Naga forward, letting her nose lead onto her prize, a large basket full of delicious, fat fish. With a happy bark, she runs to it.

While the polar bear dog consumes her just rewards, Korra walks over to Asami with a playful look of false confusion, "I wonder who this is for?"

Asami replies, "Well, I was going to show you this place later, but current events forced me to make adjustments." She gestures to a door on the far left side of the buildings' wall while reaching out to her Avatar. A warm smile on her face, "Come on, I'll show you." Korra takes the offered moment and walks in.

The first thing that became very immediate to Korra was the lack of internal lighting. Confused she asks, "Uh Asami, did you forget to pay your electric bill?" She hears her giggle ahead, still lightly pulling her along an unknown path.

"Don't worry my little Avatar, just stay close to me and close your eyes."

She does so, tightening her grip, and cautiously follows her through the immutable fog of darkness. Her mind, deprived of one of its means to observe the world, now focuses more intently on her other senses. Her nose smells Asami's lavender honey scented hair and a whiff of fresh motor oil permeating the atmosphere. The ears, straining into the artificial abyss, report the echoes of their footsteps and their rhythmic breathing. However, the most important sense to her at this moment was the feeling of her girlfriend's hand. This strong, impossibly velvety palm and fingers clasped around her own. _You'd think with all of the sparring bouts we have and her constant work on machines she would have at least a rough spot somewhere on these delicious digits of hers._

She continues to lead her along. "There are some stairs here." Korracautiously climbs the steps. "That's it. There you go." They continued onward with Asami expertly navigating the path, turning right only for them to stop after they finished a few more paces. Korra feels the hand she held tightly onto twist around and entwine its fingers with hers while bringing its owner face to face. Korra could feel Asami slowly trail her fingertips from her thighs all the way up to her cheek. Her heart thundered in her chest yearning for whatever came next. The enshrouded mistress spoke, "Keep your eyes closed dear, I'm turning on the lights." The dull hum of warehouse illumination turns silent as the area is drenched in light.

"You can open them now."

Korraopens her eyes staring right into Asami's. She notices they are on a catwalk suspended close to the ceiling. "What do you have to show me?" Asami points down to another source of light below them. Korrafollows the finger to see a glass ceiling and through it notices people in white surgical garb walking around below. They were each tenderly handling various items; some of them were looking on as one of them sent a bolt of lightning into a metal wire with another team watching a machine connected to the wire at the other end, others seem to be trying to set strange fabrics she has never seen before on fire and others were taking notes on the numerous rows of plants growing on small pots.

"This is or once was, a little project of mine. I would find something I like and tinkered with it to see how it worked and then put it back together, sometimes better than before. It kinda ballooned after I met you." She points to the various white-coated groups below. "The room with the fire bender shooting lightning? We are testing a new alloy to see how easily the current passes through it. The ones we have carrying electricity all over the city lose too much power over long distances. They are working on designing a fire retardant substance that can be applied to any clothing." A bright flash of light bloomed from below and just as quickly died. "We're still working out the kinks. Those plants over there have been bred to need less land and water to grow the same amount of crop. We've even made a new kind of fertilizer that makes crop rotation much more effective."

"And the Raava sigil outside?"

She quietly voices to Korra, "You inspired me to make what I did bigger. You're going all over the world helping everyone and bringing harmony." She takes her hand. "If we are going to be together I only want to help you in any way I can.. and," gesturing to her employees down below, "this is the only way I know how."Korra stretches herself to Asami's rose lips to gift them with a tender kiss, "Thank you."

**"wwwwooOOOOOORRRRRRRRRR"**

Asami's' head jerks away from Korra when the sound reaches her ears, temporarily puzzled by the meaning behind it till her brain relays the critical information the howling resonance conveys. Turning back to Korra, she hurriedly says, "We have to get out of here."She leans over the rail, "Everyone out of here! Get to the designated safety zones!" They dash down the length of the warehouse towards the door.

"What's going on?", Korra questions.

"I don't know, but if that siren is running it means something terrible is happening." Asami is first through the door with Korra a mere second behind. They round the building hoping that all is well, that the activation of the siren was a fluke. The flurry of panicked workers running for safety confirmed the CEO's worst fears. The duo hears a host of muffled explosions off in the distance. Korra and Asami quickly look to each other, mentally fortify themselves so they may deal with the developing crisis. Korra whistles for Naga, who heeds her call. They quickly mount her and ride toward the source of unknown peril. 


	5. Conflict Renews Part 2

Naga raced through Future Industries miniature city of a production complex, racing towards the sounds of explosions that have people fleeing in terror. Korra helps navigate their steed around people and obstacles alike with precision, while Asami tightens the hold around her to stay in place. The industrialists' eyes are the first to see the smoke rising in the distance. She points it out to Korra, "Look up ahead!" The Avatar's eyes could see the smoke, but they noticed that something was moving in the distance. She squints to focus on the moving apparitions.

Korra, disbelieving her sight, asks her partner, "Asami are you seeing what I'm seeing? Asami looks ahead and to see two giant machines fighting. Memories of Kuvira's colossal machine overcome her mind. Its destructive power, the terror it inflicted; the loss of her father; and the horrifying thoughts that she lost Korra as well.

"Asami?" Korra's voice snaps her out of the daze.

"I'm okay." She brings her attention back to the situation. She points to the building the mechs are fighting near, "I need you to get them away from there. Naga and I will see if there's anyone trapped."

As they raced ever closer to the battle Korra could see that the smaller mech was fighting aggressively, weaving between buildings for cover, while constantly firing at its larger opponent. She reaches down to her waist to squeeze Asami's hand, turning her head to look at her."Guess this is where I get off." Korra leans forward to Naga's ear to whisper, "Keep her safe ok girl?" The loyal polar bear dog replies with ruff between her panting. Asami gives her a quick hug, "Please be careful." Korra hands over the reins and with a grin leaps off Naga with a gust of air yelling, "Aren't I always?!" falling towards the ground she forms her air scooter and blazes a dusty trail towards her adversaries.

Asami and Naga reach their destination as sounds of Korra's fighting began in the distance. She could hear the sounds of the elements connecting with their targets. Naga searches through the rubble letting her nose lead the way. "Hello! Is there anyone here?!" She hears Naga'sbark and turns to see her pointing her snout at a pile of debris. Asami dismounts and begins removing what she can from the rubble to see what lies beneath.

"Anyone in there?", asking the darkness only to hear a faint groan in return. "Just hang in there! We'll get you out." She takes a few steps back thinking, _That is too heavy to lift outright. I need a lever_. Asami turns to her awaiting stead. "Naga? I need a stick girl. A big stick. Think you can find one for me?" She gives an affirmative, "Ruff!" and runs off searching. "I'll need to make a pivot point before she gets back." Asami quickly goes about gathering whatever stones and rubble, which were in no short supply, to create the fulcrum needed for the lever. The sound of something metallic scraping on concrete drew closer carrying with it the panting of a polar bear dog.

Naga brings the long pipe to Asami's side, receiving a quick petting for her efforts. _Alright now just go to set this up properly and slide it into that hole. _Taking the pipe she places it on the fulcrum and slides half its length into the hole she created earlier. Placing pressure on her end raises the heavy load on the opposite end with ease. Asami directsNaga to obtain the prone worker that lies within. Naga dutifully complies with the command gently grabbing and dragging the trapped worker out. Letting go of the lever Asami rushes over to check on the battered employee, "It's okay, it is okay you're safe now." The worker gratefully thanks Sato for rescuing them. "Can you walk?"

"I can try."

Asami slowly lifts the worker to their feet, but they reel in pain and collapse when they try to fully stand. "I can't Miss Sato. It hurts too much." Asami calls for Naga and places the injured workers onto her back. "Did you see anyone else that might be in trouble?" The worker points ahead, "Over there. I saw some people rush into that hole when everything was falling." Asami guides Naga, with the injured employee on her, to where the covered hole was. She hears the sound of a large explosion from where Korra is fighting. The sudden feeling of dread grips her soul over the endless possibilities of what could've happened to her beloved.


	6. New Challengers

Barreling towards the unknown mechs, Korra strategizes on how best to deal with these new things. _I've got to keep them distracted long enough for Asami and Naga to clearout anyone that is left. I know fire would only blind them, but that will be useful. I can feel the water underground in the pipes, but it might take too long to gather it up. Plenty of good old earth to use though, just need to be quick on my feet. Not going to bother metalbending them. Probably made of that darn platinum stuff. _With a clear view ahead she notices the oddly bright projectiles coming from the smaller mechs hand weapons. _I'll definitely need my air-bending to dodge whatever those things are firing_. Releasing control over her air scooter Korra slides onto her feet to a stop, the two mechs unaware of her presence.

"Let's see how tough you two are." She widens her stance, imposing her will unto the earth, and forces four large slabs out of the ground. Taking aim she hurls them at her targets with a swing of her arms, two for each mech. They don't notice until it's too late as their helping of boulders smashed against them. The larger of the two is only knocked six paces away, but its smaller combatant is staggered on the first then the next sent it flying away into the company road. The now noticeably blue, tall mech looks at Korra and rises its left arm, aiming with a set of glowing cannons.

The echoing thoughts of _move, move, MOVE_! screamed in Korra's mind as she bends the air to create a powerful jet, propelling herself out the field of fire. She sees a streak of orange light strike where she stood moments ago then a large explosion leaving a small crater as its mark. Thundering steps fill the area as the tall mech runs toward Korra, drawing a blade from its other arm. It swings where Korra stands.

**PEW PEW **

The assailant's arm is struck veering its aim off just enough to miss her. She reflexively uses the earth to vault herself away narrowly dodging the hail of gunfire from the now standing smaller mech. The battle turns into a deadly dance. Korra evading both blade and projectile alike while continuing to push them away from the industrial complex and further away from Asami with her earth bending. The smaller mech is surprisingly nimble, rolling around doing it all it could to fend off sword strikes, flying rocks, or cannon blasts while taking potshots at the more dominant machine.

Its larger counterpart acted as though it was mindless, attacking either opponent with no concern for safety. It was surprisingly effective as the Avatar and the other mech were constantly on the defensive. Korra could feel the sweat sliding down her back. The tall tale signs of her body it's starting to feel the strain. _Ugh, this is getting me nowhere. I've got to push them out of here and fast before one of them gets a lucky shot at me or Asami._

Out of the corner of her eye, she spots an abandoned fuel truck."Perfect." After throwing her last boulder, Korra dashes away from the fight and dives behind the leftover corner of a demolished building. Peeking around to see that the larger mech had already forgotten her and focused its attention on the other she makes way to the truck. Feeling for the impurities within the metallic frame Korralifts the vehicle and with great effort hurls it. She waits for the right moment then strikes the tankers hold with a fireball, igniting it then quickly shields herself with an earthen dome. The explosion engulfs the two mechs and rocks the dome with its blast.

As Asami made the final knot that attached a makeshift sled to Naga'ssaddle she heard the explosion. She turned and could only watch in horror as a large fireball shot into the air. Her light green eyes pick apart the area trying to find a sign for her Avatar. _There you are._ Her eyes had caught sight of the artificial dome. The relief turns to trepidation as the looming shadow of the mech emerges from the flames unscathed. She noticed Korra had emerged from her shelter and stood ready to continue the fight. The same feeling of helplessness she felt when Kuvira took her father away becomes ever-present once more.

****_No, not this time. This time I'm not losing her. Not to these things. Korra can't metal bend them, but their metal chassis should still conduct electricity. _She kneels to Naga, looking at her friend in their eyes. "Naga I need you to take these people away from here and stay there ok girl?"She hands the rails to the woman they first rescued. "Just guide her to the evacuation zone and stay clear of any kind of trouble."

"Yes, Ma'am." With a gentle nudge, Naga runs off carrying the injured people on her back and towing the saddle filled with more of them. Turning her attention to present matters she quickly pulls together a strategy. _Best thing I can use against these mechs would be electricity and lucky for me there is plenty of it here. It's just a matter of getting close enough with something conductive._

She surveys the area for a potent electrical source but yields nothing in the immediate vicinity. Undeterred she proceeds back to a storage house they passed by earlier for two one-hundred-foot spools of quarter-inch-thick copper wire. _Let's hope they didn't knock out the power grid. I wouldn't want to do this the hard way. _She makes her way to the closest fabrication building nearest to the battle, heading towards the large breaker box. A stray thought entered mind reminding her how much of pain these buildings were with their near-constant demand for power. After confirming that power did indeed still flowed through the circuits she proceeded with the plan.

The battle seemed to drag on forever. Her opponents are constantly moving around her attacks and each other seemingly without feeling exhaustion. _Focus Korra, just keep looking for an opening then take it. _Out of the corner of her eyes, she notices something rolling along the pavement. They were two spools of wire casually rolling along, such an odd sight almost made her drop her guard.

"Korra!!", a shout came from Asami. Looking her way she sees Asami pointing at the spools, giving her a thumbs up.

Korra grins with pride, "That's my girl." She swirls her arms in front of her focusing the air around her opponents faster and faster to create a whirlwind to kick up the dust to blind them. She then bends the metal on the spools and launches them at her foes, wrapping one spool on their legs. She turns back knowing that her girlfriend had a reason for this shouting, "Do it Asami!"

Hearing the command Asami flips the breaker, electrifying the copper wire with thousands of electronic scrambling volts of power. The duo winces as they hear unexpected screams of pain. As the fierce wind dies down Korra sees the nightmarish source of the screams.

Asamirushes out to see these mecha suits wailing in pain. She looks on in shock and horror over what was transpiring. _This makes no sense, they should be frozen in place not screaming. _A myriad of possibilities run through her mind as she grapples with the reason behind this scene. _Spirits. What are these things?_

The mechs convulse as crackling electricity courses through them, arcing between the two. The smaller gunmetal one is doubled over on their knees straining to stay up. The taller blue mech, on the other hand, is staring beyond Korra at the source of where the wires originate from. It raises its shaking cannon arm once more and fires twice. 


	7. They done fucked up

"Oh no, you don't!", Korra forces multiple walls of the earth in the path of the shot. The protective barrier absorbs the shots, but are destroyed in the process. She sees two more shots fly past her. These ones were teal in color and quick, too quick. And found their target: the electrical substation.

As she looked on Asami noticed something about these machines. Something peculiar about the tall blue mech. _Its face moves! It actually looks angry and in pain and... _A chill descends down her spine. _It's looking right at me._

Anger. Clear unbridled anger possessed its metal face as the blue mech looked toward Asami. Its brightly lit pale blue eyes stared into her own. Every fiber of her being screamed for her to run. The mech dashes towards her. The world seemed to slow down as it drew nearer. It's blade singing as it cuts through the air ever closer. She feels herself fall to the ground as Korra tackles her. The mech, still charging, is suddenly struck by two deafening blasts sending it flying into the building opposite of them.

They quickly rise to their feet and look to see the other mech standing firm. Its pair of weapons lightly smoking and glowing from the barrel. Its menacingly red eyes glance over at the duo. Korra takes a defensive posture ready for anything this one might try. Asaminotices a growing shadow over its face. **CRASH **A piece of ceiling slams into its face, then an orange light streaks through its side sending the mech tumbling over to the ground. The tall mech steps through the wall as though it were paper. It's eyes still on the engineer.

"Asami run!" Korra hurls slabs of rock at the mech hoping to catch its attention. The metal giant swings its thick wrist blade with the flat end hitting the rock, smashing it to pieces. It raises its cannon arm, the barrel glowing the deadly orange within. Before they can fire their shot Korra hurls another slab smacking the weapon throwing its aim off as the blast escapes the barrel. She turns to see where it lands. The shot misses Asami entirely striking the paved road, but the shock-wave from its explosive detonation hits Korra's girlfriend. She's flung into a nearby brick wall and falls to the ground limply.

An enraged avatar responds in kind ripping the entire wall from the building next to her and sending its full length into the mechs chassis. It flies back into the building it was in moments ago, collapsing the whole thing onto it. Disregarding the mechs, Korraleaps and creates a jet of air, launching herself swiftly to her girlfriend's aid.

Gently taking the unconscious engineer into her arms Korra runs to put distance between them and the mechs. She stops after running three buildings down and turns a corner, propping Asami up against the wall to look her over.

She was covered in dust, a few scraps, and a small trail of blood coming from a cut on her head hidden by her hair. Korra feels for the water in the flask she had Asami keep on her person and draws it out. She had advised her to have one when she once complained of being thirsty from her workaholic tendencies and forgot to drink. Korra remembers her being so dumbfounded over the simple solution to her problem. Silently she surrounds her with the water and focuses her energies into it. She sees the scraps and cut heal in moments, a credit to the skill passed onto her from Master Katara.

"Asami, can you hear me?" Her girlfriend gave no reply. Worry builds in Korra's chest.

"Please wake up." Stirrings and murmurs are replied. The engineer opens her eyes. "Korra?"

Relief washes over the Avatar. "Yes it's me," she replies cupping her dearests lovely cheek. Asami affectionately takes hold of it rubbing the digits with her thumb. "Are you feeling alright?" Asamishakes her head affirmatively, "I'm okay." She smirks, "Go, getem girl."

Making sure her girlfriend was comfortable Korra heads back to the fight. She could already hear the scraping of metal on metal and feeling the low rumble of the earth. She concentrates, for a moment, to deepen the connection between her spirit and Ravaa's, calling forth her might to her own. A pure white glow emanates from her eyes. Korra felt the familiar energies course through her being. A feeling of gentleness and warmth, yet such things belied the power contained. A power she would put to good use.

She steadily strides onward feeling out for anything metallic within her reach. Earth-movers, I-beams, rivets, wreckage. All munitions for her to vent the rage building within. She could feel Ravaa's worry yet the Great Spirit said nothing. She understands the kind of rage Korrafeels right now. The rage of seeing your loved one hurt before your eyes. She felt that time and again throughout the years with all other avatars and their partners. Korra and Asami were no different.

Ahead Korra sees that the smaller mech has been pinned underfoot by the taller one. Its cannon pointed for a killing strike. Neither noticed the Avatars return, but they do hear her.

"I don't know who or what you two are, but you will learn one thing. "She takes hold of the metal in her reach and raises them into the air. "No one **HURTS**." The metal turns sharply as though they are intentionally facing their target. "**MY ASAMI!!!**" They blur through the air moving too fast to count their number.

I-beams strike their face and torso sending them spiraling into the air. The smaller mech flies further than the other landing hard on the ground. The blue mech uses the momentum to spin themselves mid-air and land on their feet, upturning the road as they slide to a stop. An earth-mover soars towards it head-on, but the mech sliced in two by their blade. Korra retaliates with crushing the halves into mechs'frame pinning their upper arms. They retract their weaponry and bring their lower arms up to shield themselves from the second wave of high-velocity pieces of various metal objects. The area is showered with sparks from metal grinding on metal, the crushed earth-mover frame whittled away in the process.

Feeling the sun blotted out they lower their arms to see the penultimate of the Avatar's attack, a volley of enormous metal freight containers. The blue mech struggled to dodge through the hail of towering metal death. Korra was sure one would hit, but the mech catches the last container, letting its momentum to make them spin on their heel. She sees the blue mech stop its full turn with a stomp on its raised foot, sending the container back to her.

Korra solidifies her stance and reaches out to stop it, but realizes it's moving too fast. Shifting her focus she quickly thrusts her arms down then up in a duel uppercut motion. An angled pillar spurt from the ground immediately spearing through the makeshift projectile, violently stopping it.

She hears a series of clanking sounds beyond the pillar that obscures her view. "Get back here!" Guessing it is attempting to escape she wills fire from the soles of her feet, propelling her atop of the wreckage to find her quarry gone.


	8. A Discovery

"What the?", her words are cut short when a distant roar reaches her ears. And like a kick to the chest, the strain for maintaining the Avatar State and prolonged, fierce combat hits her. She relinquishes the empowerment and doubles over, hands propping her up on her knees breathing heavy. Body dripping sweat.

"Korra, the other one!" She looks to see Asami up and about pointing to the other mech still in their midst. Cursing her lack of attention turns ready to face whatever the other could throw at her. What she actually sees is the back of the machine clutching its wounded side as it looks skyward.

She slides down from the top of the wreck. "You're not going anywhere!"It surprisingly jumps ever so slightly as if it was startled by Korra's sudden outburst. It meets the avatar's gaze, staring at her for a moment, then it breaks into a full run.

Korra strikes up with one fist while striking forward with the other causing multiple pieces of debris to shoot up and fly out to strike the legs of the fleeing machine hoping to trip it. The mech leaps forward and twists firing one of its hand cannons, the blast destroying Korra's attack. It lands on its back using the momentum to roll onto its feet as the dust and pebbles pass by. Its red eyes look on altering their gaze between Korra and Asami.

"Well?", Korra shouts ready for whatever comes next.

The silent machine slowly brings its weapons down and places them out of sight behind its back.

"Is it surrendering?" Asami asks. "Maybe?", replies Korra. TheAvatar's eyes focused on the mech for any sort of movement. She was ready for anything... except what came next.

**TSCHE-CHU- CHU- CHU- TSCHE**

The duo stare on in shock and amazement as the body of the mech swiftly changed form. Arms and legs fold and twist seemingly into themselves. The round shoulders producing wheels and panels unfolding from hidden places on its body, changing into something larger than Asami'spersonal satomobile. Its tires squeal before gaining traction and speeds away.

They continue to stare, baffled over what had happened. "Did we really just see that?", Korra asked abruptly. "Yes," Asami confirming. Scientific curiosity overtaking her thoughts. "And I want to know how it works. We need a car."

The growing sound of a siren accompanied by a honking horn catches their attention. Squinting her eyes for a moment Korra recognizes the people approaching, "Its Mako and Bolin!"

The vehicle comes to a halt, Bolin leaping out of his seat rushing to them. "You guys alright? We saw the explosions and we came as fas tas we could."

"RDP and fire departments are only a few minutes behind us," Mako spoke while propping himself up. He takes a moment to survey the damage surroundings. "What did this?"

"Not what, who." Asami chimes in while walking to the driver's door."I'll take the wheel from here. We need to leave now if we are going to catch up with one of them."

"Shouldn't we be looking for survivors first?" Mako asks, "there could be people still trapped."

"I'll take a look," Korra says. She kneels down to touch the ground with her hand and closes her eyes, feeling out with her spirit. Seeking to make a connection with anyone that might be in the area.

_I can't sense anyone nearby. They're all gathered away from here. I do feel some auras heading towards us, must be the police and firefighters._ She takes a moment to feel her friend's energy. _Bolin and Mako are obviously worried I can feel that, but Asami's. She'scompletely out of whack. I wonder if she has fully recovered and seeing those mechs fighting probably reminded her of those nightmares. Hmmph, I'd ask her to stay behind, but I don't think she will. I'll have to keep a close eye on her._

She breaks the connection telling them they can leave. The krew pick their seats and race to catch their speeding prey with Asami driving and Korra in the front passenger seat. She fills in Bolin and Mako on what happened before they arrived. They seemed to have taken the news well.

"You're kidding me, right?" Bolin asked in his usual disbelieved manner."We're chasing after a machine that can level buildings and change into some kind of satomobile."

"I'm more shocked that they withstood the Avatar State, from what you said they are smaller than Kuvira's mecha." A hint of worry was inMako's voice.

"I was trying to make them run instead of just pummeling them into the ground. If the fight kept going the damage would've spread, putting more people in danger," Korra replied defensively.

"That makes sense."

Thanks to Asami's skillful driving and intimate knowledge of the Republic Cities road system, they arrive at the interstate in short order. Along the way, Korra couldn't help but continuously glance over at her girlfriend. Discovering how turbulent her spirit has left the Avatar worried. She remembered those nights during and after they returned from their trip into the Spirit World. Asami would wake up in the middle of the night screaming out for her father. Korra would hold her tight saying reassuring words to calm her mind, just as Asami did for her four years ago.

Her thoughts are interrupted when she sees a dark object peak from the corner of her vision. The familiar nagging feeling at the back of her mind compelled Korra to focus on what it may be. "There it is!" she exclaims pointing to the oddly shaped vehicle speeding through traffic to reach the freeway. Asami presses down on the accelerator while activating the siren to signal the other drivers to get out of their way.

Bolin, who sat behind the driver's seat, leaned forward between the two front seats asking, "So does anyone know where this mech we'rechasing is going?"

Asami quickly replies, "My guess is that whoever is piloting it will want to disappear and fast. What better place than the abandoned sections of the old Republic City?"

Mako pulls his brother back and darts his hand between the two, palm up."Hand me the radio. I can have whatever roads we need cutoff."

Korra does so adding, "See if you can keep them on the main road. If we can get them to the oversea bridge we can stop them."

"Good idea." He takes the radio and relay orders to his fellow officers.

Whoever was driving this mech turned car must have seen them because it's velocity suddenly increased and broke out of the traffic lane. The krew gives chase slowly closing the distance with traffic parting for the siren, while their quarry swerves through it.

It turns at an intersection only to drive back onto the main road at the last second as a wall of stone blocks it off. It weaves through the frightened drivers and approaches the next one only to find it blocked as well. They speed along, going faster and faster with each blocked intersection it encounters.

Mako speaks to his fellow officers through the radio, "Great work everyone. Have you cleared the bridge of civilians?" "Yes sir." a voice replies from the other end. "Good, once this perp gets on the bridge close it off after we go through."

"Ten-four."

Both vehicles race forward onto the bridge speeding down its long length. The officers of Republic City closing the entryway as the team passes per Mako's command. "Ok, the pilot is boxed in here with us," Bolin says after looking back.

Korra stares ahead, her focus entirely on the shape-changing machine."Good, now let's take this thing down." She turns back to the two brothers. "Mako I need you to get a good charge with your lightning while Bolin and I keep the driver distracted."

He nods. "Try and make his reactions predictable, I'll only get one shot."

Korra and Bolin focus their reach into the pavement. Bolin rips small slices out, throwing them in rapid succession towards the left side of the pursued vehicle. Korra opts for thrusting out chunks of pavement into the vehicles right side forcing it back into Bolin'sbarrage.

Mako stands and closes his eyes, his breath steady and slow. His full attention focused on separating the positive and negative jing within and without him.

Asami could feel the tall tale tingling sensation of building static electricity. She breathes deeply, _Keep her steady girl. Either we run out of road and this pilot eats four foot thick slabs of concrete or Mako fries their ride._

The screeching sound of the chased vehicles rear wheels locking in place causing it to slide across the bridge road as it sharply turns into the opposite lane. Asami notices Mako's lightning bolt streak through the air only for it to miss and strike at the blockade scorching the rock and leaving a sizable hole. It looked as though, for a moment, that the mobile had spun out of control and headed towards the guardrail only to stop exactly in the middle of the opposite lane. The tires kicking up smoke as it speeds off in the other direction.

Clenching her teeth Asami shifts from fourth to second gear. "Get down and hold tight!" She flicks the steering wheel to the right only to swiftly spin it to the left. The feel of the vehicle's weight shifting to the outer wheels tells her that the maneuver will work. Their car comes to a perfectly matching stop as the other did moments ago. Asami shifts into first gear and hitting the accelerator restarting their pursuit.

Korra grunts in frustration, "I think it's time this guy cooled off."She rises from her seat and performs a quick, forceful series of movements with her arms and fists. The road beneath the fleeing mech tilts upward and curves altering its path toward the guardrail. The screeching of its breaks are heard as it fails to stop it from smashing through the barrier, sending it to the river below. Asamistops near it and the group piles out. Korra confidently walks to the rail gap leaning forward, "Let's see you get out of that."

**WHIRR** **WOOSH **

A streak of gray darts across the water speeding towards the coast where the abandoned remains of the city.

"What the?!", Korra exclaims upon seeing the car speed along the water. Gritting her teeth, "This guy is not getting away." She jumps over the railing, pulling and twisting the water beneath upwards into an ever-growing spiral to catch and slow her descent. She then retracts into the sea carrying her with it only to launch herself across. Using a quick burst of flames from her fists and feet for an extra push. She sails through the air closing the gap between them. As she falls to the water she makes a water spout and continues the chase.

"I hate it when she does that," Mako says clearly annoyed over Korra'sactions.

Bolin looks on as Korra fades into the distance, "You think she is going to be ok?"

Asami answers, "I don't know, but I'll be damned if we're going to be on the sidelines. Bolin, does Opal still have the portable radio I made for her?"

"Huh?"She gives him the moments needed for him to pull his thoughts away from the moment and slowly make the connections as to why she wants to contact Opal. "Oh yes!" Eyes lighting up when he realizes the reason. "Oh, that's a great idea. Let me see if I can get ahold of her."

While Bolin runs back to the car, Mako and Asami continue to look on as Korra fades in the distance. Mako spots something dart through the water below when he notices a dark streak zip underwater, then another and another. A whole swarm of them speeding along, each as long as a torpedo by his guess, and all of them mirroring Korra's path. A sense of dread hovered over him. 


	9. Chase's End

"Asami", he points to below them, "are you seeing you seeing what I'm seeing?" She follows the path his fingers makes and sees the darting streaks underwater. Shock and fear over the awaiting danger to the Avatar. _Spirits, there's so many.. and she doesn't know. Oh my Ravaa she's in so much danger. _She could feel a hard lump take shape in her throat.

"Guys!I've got Opal on the line she says she can be here in ten minutes."

Mako turns to his brother yelling, "We need her here faster than ten minutes! Korra's in trouble."

Blasts of red hot fire singe the air as Korra continually assaults her quarry relentlessly. _Darn thing is fast. _Another shot from her fist goes into the drink. If this_ guy gets on land under their own power he might escape. I'll need to change that. _They drew closer to the oncoming shore with Korra hot on the vehicle's tail, not letting up her attacks. _Almost there you just keep swerving._

She hears a loud bang sound from below, but before she could look her eyes were shrouded in darkness. She breathes in and coughs, her lungs burn as they struggle for better air. She hears the roaring sound of an engine begin to fade. Gathering air from within the water tunnel below, she expands it outwards forcing the smoke away. She gasps as pure, clean air fills her lungs. "That is it!"

Regaining the sight of the vehicle she focuses on the water and pulls a thick wall of aqua up ahead of it. Too close to stop it slams head-on. The waters' constant rising causes it to tumble over and away from the wall.

"I tried to do this gently, but you just want to keep pulling tricks. So here's some of mine." She encircles the waterfall around it, blocking their escape. She swirls her hands and arms, churning the water below. Slowly at first, then faster and faster-creating a whirlpool that pulls the struggling mech down into its depths. The vehicle tries to overcome the vortex. Its engine raging against the avatars manipulations, but metal proved no match for elemental fury as the mech falls further and further below.

She feels a twinge of pity for the poor soul as it tumbles about in the watery vortex. The harsh, hard-hitting waves refusing to let up their assault. Pity that quickly faded when the memory of Asami's near-death by their actions rushes forward. Her hands clench as the memory plays out in her mind.

The rage returns and with it an urge. The overbearing urge to crush those that would dare harm her girl, to make it so that the idea, the very thought of harming anyone she cares for a sin. It's the same one she felt when she thought the Red Lotus had killed her father.

_**"No!" **_cried the light spirit within. _**"Breathe Korra, breathe**_._**" **_She feels Raava's calming warmth chasing away the rage. The tension leaving her boy with every breath she takes. Fully calmed she recounted her actions with regret as she looks below.

"Alright, you've been in the spin cycle long enough. Time for some answers."

She lowers the walls of water and weakens the whirlpool to a gentle tide sending the mech to the shore. She leaves behind her spinning column of water to gently land on the giving sand. Along the way down she watches as it changes form and slowly crawls into the more vegetated landscape.

Korra makes her way to some fallen, overgrown trees among the foliage. The air felt damp and cool which was a welcome relief to her sweaty, exercised body. She felt they weren't alone though. While she couldn't see them, she could feel that the spirits had come to watch. Taking a hiding spot behind the fallen trees she hears the sounds of strained grunting as something tried to move. Peeking out she sees the mech strangely nursing the open wound on its side with the righthand in hand while clutching its head with the other.

_This is really weird_, she thought. _Why are they acting as though the damage actually hurts? It makes no sense. _Questions over this new development come, but she pushed those thoughts aside. She needs answers and she will have them.

She raises two columns, twice as tall and wide as her, near the mech's feet startling it. Korra shouts, "If you've had enough I'm going to come out now. You make any sudden moves and I start pummeling you again. Understood?"

She slowly made her way out of the trees and into view. Her eyes intently focused on the mech waiting for any sign of hostile intent. It sits there still, staring back with red eyes. Seeing that the pilot for the mech was cooperating she takes a moment to check over the machine. Cuts, scuff marks, small dents, and burnt metal dot its body, obvious leftovers of its fight. Surprisingly there were also spots of rust on its edges and near the joints. Feeling safe from standing behind her earthly ammunition she begins her questioning.

"I want answers. First; Who are you and who is piloting that other mech? Second; why were you two fighting at Asami's factories? And.. why are you staring at me like that?"

The mech had gone stiff, its red glowing eyes were wide and frowned. Korra thought for a moment it was looking at her, but it felt more like it was looking beyond her.

The moment that occurred an all too familiar tingle climbs up her spine. Slowly, she turned sideways to behold another alien sight.

There were thirty of them silently walking up the beachhead. Their metal skin-colored in silver and white glisten from the seawater drying away in the evening sun. All of them as tall as Naga and as long as a cargo truck, but slim and sleek. Each of their four legs tipped with long, sharp claws.

_Well, this is turning out to be a day full of surprises and machines of deadly death. I'll need to keep my wits about me till the others get here. Just need to-_

The soft-touch of wind and clanking of metal on giving ground interruptsKorra's thoughts. She quickly turns to its source and sees the inside of the mechs weapon barrel pointed at her. A brightening light deep inside grows ever larger within. At this moment, time seemed to a standstill as though it was deciding how things played out.

"**Get down**!" An unfamiliar voice snaps Korra to the present. Her limbs, honed through a lifetime of training, moved on their own. Her legs slide apart, letting gravity force her down to rest on her thighs and crotch. The shadow of something large and fast passes close to her hair, then the sound of pain as it hits its target.

Re-positioning herself to a crouch she looks up to see the mech towering over her. Its second weapon had been drawn and it was firing on the new arrivals in earnest.

They had spread out, dodging the incoming fire while encircling their prey. At random they lunge between the shots trying to find an opening. The mech refuses to move and simply swatted away those that get too close for their comfort.

Meanwhile, Korra had been dodging the mechs footsteps as it tried to defend them. She noticed while it had fired multiple shots, few had hit their marks and that the four-legged machines were slowly getting closer.

Their rate of attacks swiftly increases, slowly beginning to overwhelmKorra's sudden protector. Like a pack of predators hunting larger prey, they sweep in with a quick strike slicing their foe, then just as quickly leap away. She knew the others would get here, but likely not soon enough to help. She needed to act while avoiding getting squished in the process.

The moment comes when one of them leaps out as the mechs back was turned. Aided by a gust of air, she dashed from underneath and sent her fist into the air. Grabbing a chunk from one of the rock pillars she made earlier it flew at the attacker from below stalling it mid-air causing it to fall.

The mech, unaware of Korra's actions, continues its efforts till one of the creatures slip through its defense, darting between its shots and lunges at its face. A grunt of effort is heard from below as a ball of fire strikes it, killing the forward momentum enough to give the mech a clear shot. The sudden co-operation does not go unnoticed after the metallic creature lies dead. The remaining ones freeze in place as though surprised by this new development.

While the lull remained Korra looks up to see the mech looking down on her. She clearly sees a surprised look on its face. _It is surprised?! A mech that can emote?... Just what are you? _Again she pushes her curiosity out. _Focus girl. Right now you need to get out of this mess._

At this moment a silent truce is made. The metal pack resumes its attack, but now they face a combined effort. The mech engages with a blazing display of light from its weapons, denying most of their chance. The ones that make it through the shots deal with Korra's might as she swiftly wields the powers of the elements at her disposal. Instead of making an effort to destroy them herself, she instead directs the paths of those that leap with powerful jets of air, entrap ones that get too close, and blind those that look ready to leap with bright flashes of fire.

With the attacks pushed back, Korra felt it was time to go on the offensive. Grunting with effort, she rockets one attacker sky-high shouting, "Six o'clock high." A moment later a shot follows suit destroying it. A new stratagem is set.

The Avatar would set up the shot with the mech keenly following her words of where to let loose. One after another their metal attackers fell, their smoking metal corpses littering the green grass.

Korra waits for the mechs next move as the threat had been removed. She sees it survey the area and grunts with approval placing away its weapons. It walks over to one of the more complete remains and starts sifting through them.

The Avatar remained silent, uncertain of how to dispel this feeling of awkwardness between them. She continues watching as it callously breaks open their foes carcass further. _Spirits, I can't stand this. _She takes a breath to steady herself. "I take it that you are done running?" Korra's words gave the mech pause as it stopped its investigating. It turns its head to look at her with an eyebrow raised.

"Well that depends, are you done tossing me around like a tin toy?"

Korra could hear the worry in its voice, but the thing that surprised her the most was the duality of it. The sound of something mechanical, but strangely also alive. A seemingly young, but tired voice. But all that came out of her was a forceful laugh.

Oh, how she wanted to scream at this machine, pilot, or whatever it is.How it and whoever the other was endangered hundreds of lives, destroyed people's jobs and nearly killed Asami. She wanted to do these things, but from experience, she knew it was better to be diplomatic. She wills herself to be calm, answers and co-operation were needed now not conflict.

"Yes," she replies trying to keep eye contact with them and not on the wreck they are rummaging through. "I would prefer if we could talk."

They nod. "Agreed." They return to their task, picking out pieces and tossing them to the side after a quick examination.


	10. Sherlockian Deductions

"Good because I need to know who you are, what you are doing here, why was that other mech fighting you, and.. just what exactly are you doing?"

"I am trying to find this units' command module. It is the most intact out of all of them, so I'm hoping it wasn't destroyed."

Korra slowly walks towards them, her curiosity of what the four-legged metal creatures looked like on the inside. She always had a certain fascination about how machines and electronics worked though the more complex stuff still eludes her understanding, like how to drive a car. "And what will finding this "command module" do?"

They take another piece of metal out of it. Held between the index finger and thumb, covered in some strange kind of pink fluid. A quick look and it too is dropped onto the ground. "I might be able to figure out what these drones orders were and, if I'm lucky, figure out where they are meant to return."

Exercising measure of trust, Korra rounded the kneeling mech to see its hands deep within the wrecked machine, sorting through its parts. She could see the thick, pink fluid leaking out and pooling on the ground.

She marveled at the sight. The mechs hands moved with such grace and fluidity even though they were made of hard metal. She knew Asami would go crazy with excitement over this mechanical creature. _Well, she would if things were different. _However, a pang of guilt remained. She wondered if these creatures were alive or just handcrafted facsimiles of the real thing.

Her feelings must have been etched on her face because her train of thought was interrupted. "You need not feel guilty over their demise. They're just drones, essentially mindless servants created to perform programmed tasks by their master." Another piece is pulled out, their eyes narrowing as they give it a once over.

"Aha!", they exclaim. The object was rectangular in shape as thick as Korra, but only up to her knees in length. The mech gives it a quick wiggle to free it from the faintly glowing pink liquid that covered it.

"You found what you were looking for?", Korra asks.

"Yes. It's a bit burned, but otherwise, it appears undamaged."The mech stands, placing away the device somewhere on its person and turns to Korra. "I thank you for your aid, but I need to go." They turn to walk, but Korraleaps to block their path.

"Whoa! Just where do you think you're going? You haven't answered my questions and you are NOT leaving till I get some answers."

Themech stands for a moment darting its eyes away from Korra's as though they were ill at ease over her persistence. "Native I appreciate your assistance, but for your safety, I can't let you become further involved in this internal matter. The less you know, the better off you'll be."

"Excuse me? Assistance? You do realize I have been kicking your butt for a good part of the day. Besides you say this is an "internal matter?"She squints in judgment. "Wait a minute, so that means this one is a rogue or criminal from where you came from. Which also means you've been sent to stop them," she smugly states, smiling over her deduction on the slippage of information.

The mechs eyes widen with shock and with a loud clunk smacks its forehead. "Scrap. Okay, you got your freebie, but you won't be getting anything else out of me on her." They stiffen and smack their forehead again.

"Wait you're saying the other is a woman?"

The mech sighs in frustration, "Look I can't say any more on this. I need to go and you need to go back to your life. It's my job to stop her."

"Hmph, funny you should say that because this is my life."

"What? Annoyingly interrogating people?"

_No, that is when Asami does to wake me up in the morning, it's evil._"No, it's my job to maintain balance in this world, but also promote peaceful change that benefits everyone. Although if talking doesn't work I do resort to kicking those butts that are causing trouble."

"Uh-huh. I will admit you can do some pretty weird stuff, but I doubt you've ever faced something like me or her before."

Korra cocked an eyebrow, "Yes I have, numerous times. And one of them was way taller than either of you."

The mech looks at the Avatar in disbelief. "You have the technology to make mechanical exosuits?"

"Yup."

"..I don't believe you."

"You don't need to believe me on that, but there is something I think you do believe. That deep down you need my help."

The mech looks away in shame.

"Listen I know you think you have to do this alone, that you think it's best for everyone that if you keep others away. But it doesn't have to be that way, not here."

"What makes you so sure of that?"

"Well the people of this world are pretty tough and you've seen first hand at what some of us can do."

"Yeah, you were able to manipulate the environment. What was that?"

"Certain people in this world have the ability to bend the elements. Well one element, if you can bend fire you can't bend water, earth, or air. Though there is an exception."

"Oh?"

"There is one person who is capable of bending all four elements. They represent the bridge between the physical and spiritual worlds. It is their job to maintain a balance between the two worlds. Such a position is so important that their very soul is tied to a powerful spirit of light so that even in death they are reincarnated to continue their duty."

Korracloses her eyes and calls upon Ravaa who fills her with light once again.

She twirls on her toes curling a dual stream of wind that caresses her skin and ever so lightly lifts the ends of her hair. Rocks of various sizes join in, slowly orbiting their conductor. Her arms extend pulling from the sea to form an aqueous ring that surrounds her. Then she inhales, roaring the fires within her to life and expels them through her limbs to the palms of her hands.

"What are you?"

She sees that the mech had stepped back and was watching with awe. "I am the Avatar." She lowers herself down relinquishing control over the elemental items she used for her demonstration with Raava parting from the merger. The shining white light vanishing from her eyes. "My name is Korra and I need to know who you are and what is going on before things have a chance to get even worse."

The mech had been pacing back and forth for a few minutes after Korra'sspeech. Rubbing its head as though it were in deep thought while still cradling its wound. "Why are you telling me all of this?"

"Because if you are truly here to help us then me and my friends are going to help you."

"You're really serious about this aren't you?"

"I wouldn't keep saying it if I wasn't."

"Ok..ok. We can work together, but first-"

A cry of pain echoed through the forest as the mech's body is struck by a bolt of lightning through the canopy. They fall over, black smoke emitting from its body. Korra circles around them ready to defend.

"Korra get back we've got it covered!" shouts Mako from on high.

"You what," she looks up to see Mako, Bolin, Asami, and Opal riding in on her flying bison Juicy, "No! Wait!"

They quickly land with Asami jumping off early, rushing to Korra to embrace her girlfriend. The other three run past to take position between them and the mech. "Thank the spirits. Korra are you ok?", she holds her tightly for a moment, the releases giving her a quick once over, "We were worried sick."

"You guys stop!" Korra shouts breaking Asami's embrace to step between them and their target. "The pilot of this mech is not our enemy."

Mako stares at Korra, completely confused. "What are you saying? This thing and its cohort wrecked the factories and nearly killed Asami."

"I know and I'm quite sure they are willing to tell us everything if we stop beating them into the ground."

A muffled voice speaks, "I would highly appreciate it if you did so."

"He can start by stepping out of that mecha tank or whatever it is," responds Mako. "He makes one wrong move though and we're dismantling his toy."

Korra looks at her friend clearly annoyed with his overprotectiveness, "Mako you can drop the tough cop routine. We saved each other lives when those", pointing to the drone remains, "things attacked us."

Asami takes notices of the aftermath of Korra's and the mechs fight. "These things?"

Korra nods, "Yeah."

Asami walks over to one of the fallen drones and kneels for a closer look. Her eyes scanning through the wreckage looking for any signs of familiarity. Finding nothing with a cursory examination she rummages through the insides, pulling out loose, broken parts for a closer look.

_This doesn't make any sense. There's no ID tags, serial numbers, or markings of any kind indicating who might've made this. I can't even make heads or tails of what any of this tech does much less what its made of. It's so... alien. She takes_ the part and walks back to her friends.

She could hear the mech, who was sitting on their knees and its hands out front, speaking to Mako. "I'm afraid I can not comply with your order Officer Mako."

"Unless your hatch is damaged there is no reason that you can't comply. And even if that was the case," Mako produces a fiery edged weapon from his fingertips, "me and my bro can easily cut you out."

Asami interjects, "Hold on a minute." She holds up the damaged piece to the mech eyes could see. "What is this?" Her words mixed with worry and uneasiness.

"It is part of a component from one of the drones. I don't know what though. I am only knowledgeable about a few of their pieces."

Flipping the halved piece down so the exposed hollow interior was made visible she asks Mako, "What do you think is missing from this?"

While confused over Asami's question nevertheless Mako peers inside. "Uh,I have no idea, but it's definitely nothing I have ever seen before."

"You're right. I have never seen anything like this in my life and my company has one of the leading R&D departments in the world. I couldn't even begin to comprehend how this was made. By all rights, this shouldn't exist here."

Korra, puzzled over Asami's words, asks, "What makes you so sure?"

"Because the technology to make something even close to this has not been invented yet. Spirits, we haven't even discovered the scientific principles to give us the thought that this is even possible."

Bolin quickly chimes in, "Whoa whoa. Hang on a second, if you're saying what I think you're saying then."

Opal's eyes widen as she comes to the same thought, "Then these mechs are not from this world." They all turn with a questioning look at the mech.

"That...is some impressive deductive reasoning," they reply clearly nervous over their words. Its eyes look over the assembled team. They settle on Korra, " I can explain this, in time, but right now I humbly request your aid in this grievous situation." 


	11. Home away from Home

She smiles from the much-wanted request, "Thank you. We will, but we need to know what is going on."

"I will in due time, but protocol states that I must make contact with your world's leaders. This makes sure everyone is equally informed. However, before that, I am in need of repairs."

"Where will you be going?", Asami asks.

"I have constructed a small base underground within another forest. It is a bit of a drive from here. I will head there and meet you back in the city."

"Hang on," Korra interjects, "You're not going anywhere alone. You need someone to accompany you."

"I find it hard to understand why you want to come with me."

"Well do you know where anything is in Republic City? Plus their officers got a good look at you. They'll spot you easily now. Asami and I can come with you. She knows the city better than anyone."

The mech mulls over the offer. "Hmm. You have a point."

Mako steps forward. "She's right. I'll need to go and inform the Chief and President Raiko, with them I can set up a meeting. Opal, think you could give me a lift?"

She gives him a thumbs up. "Sure thing. I'll drop you off and head out to inform Tenzin and Jinora of what's happening."

Korra clasps her hands together. "Alright, then we have a plan." She remembers the last member of their group. "Oh Bolin, would you mind coming with us?"

"Me? Why do you need me?"

Korra walks over to him wrapping her left arm around his shoulders."Because you're a top-notch Earth bender and you can make lava."

Korra lets him go when she sees Opal come over. "Its alright sweetie. If anything happens she's gonna need your help." Her tender encouragement brings a smile to his face.

"Oh!", he says. "Quick question, how are we supposed to keep in touch with you guys so you can tell us where the Chief is setting up the meeting?"

"I am able to monitor your radio transmissions," the metal giant speaks. "Just speak into your device and I'll hear it."

"Well, that solves that problem." Bolin leans over to Opal smooching her cheek, "See you soon my gentle wind."

Mako climbs onto Juicy's large roundabout saddle alongside Opal. With a strong flick of his tail, they fly off. Bolin, Asami, and Korra watch them vanish in the distance.

"Time we get a move on," Korra states. She looks over to their new ally."I don't suppose you have room in yourself? You know, when you change."

"Normally no, but I can make a few modifications while I change form to accommodate you three. I'll let you know when to get in."

The oddly appropriate sound echos as its limbs collapse on themselves, folding and compressing till the mech is no bigger than a massively oversized satomobile. Though it's battle damage clearly showed with dents, deep cuts, scratches, and scorch marks everywhere on the metal skin.

The doors of the vehicle open. "Come on in." The trio, albeit reluctantly, entered with Bolin in the back seat, Asami in the driver's seat, and Korra in the side passenger.

Inside was the same gunmetal gray, even the seats were made of metal. The smooth, hard surface felt odd as they sat. The angled panels in front were devoid of any instruments or controls. The driver's floor had no pedals either.

Bolin is the first one to speak. "Well, this is certainly.. different."

"The amenities are inadequate?", the familiar though disembodied voice asks.

"No, they're fine just different," Asami chimes in while trying to get comfortable. "Why don't we just get a move on?"

"Of course." They lurch back briefly as the vehicle moves through the uneven terrain. They pick up speed despite this and are moving along at a rapid pace.

Some time passes as they travel. A combination of overthinking and inability to do anything other than sit has Asami mindlessly tapping her fingers on the car door.

"Is something the matter?", the voice breaks the silence.

"Its nothing really," she says, "just not used to riding in a car in the driver's seat and not being the one driving it. It feels weird, to be honest."

"I can relate. I never had squishy passengers, or passengers at all for that matter, inside me before. I've had to keep my speed low so none of you would be tossed around so much."

Asami looks through the window to notice the kind of unforgiving terrain they were driving on. "Well for what it's worth your shocks are amazing. I haven't felt the slightest bump since we started."

"Thank you."

The rest of the trip was uneventful and silent. After what seemed like endless hours of driving they stooped.

"Weare here," the voice informs them. The doors open and the group exits their ride. The rhythmic mechanical sound repeats again as the car becomes a walking titan.

Asami, Korra, and Bolin could see they were deep within the forest. They looked for any indication of an artificial structure or disturbed wilderness, but fail to find such things.

BaffledKorra asks, "What do you mean we're here? There is nothing around just this forest."

"It's up ahead. My apologies, but I thought it would be a good idea for you three to have the chance to stretch your legs." _Primus knows I need it__, _He thought to himself. "Plus tire tracks are far easier to track than footsteps."

They proceed on for a couple of dozen paces with the mech making the path, stopping at an outcrop of limestone.

"The entrance is here. I will need a moment to open it."

Korra looks up to see them key in a sequence into their left forearm. She hears Bolin's amazement and turns to see the outcrop of limestone slowly vanish, revealing an inclined descent that leads below ground.

"How is this possible?" Asami asked.

Amusingly the mechanical being raised their hand to scratch their head. "Uh,I don't know the specifics. I just know it uses light."

Asamistared at the mech in complete amazement. "You use something this advanced, but you have no idea how it works?"

"I'm not the one who invented it and I'm no scientist. I just know how to use it." They walk on into the cavern. "Come on in, just mind your steps."

Down into the earth, they walked. Their path illuminated by two continuous tubes of light that travel the length of the enormous corridor. At its end, it opens into an incredibly large room. Scattered everywhere were bundles of containers of what look like cables, exposed circuit pieces, and other things none of them could guess at what they were.

"Well, this looks, homely," Korra comments as she views the clutter. If this had been surprised find Asami would rummaging through everything she could get her hands on.

Various strange consoles decorate the wall with their dim light and low humming. Asami inspects the one closest to the entrance. It was over twice her height and adorned with scorch marks, dents, and scraps."Was there a fight here?" she asks.

"No this is just what I could salvage, "they reply. They walk further ahead of the trio towards a lone chair in the far back. The lights turned on as the mech drew closer revealing a host of strange, hooked equipment that encircles the chair along with an appropriately sized tray to their left. They let out a heavy, tired sigh of relief as they sat.

"Are you going to be ok?", Bolin asks.

Their metal friend grabs a cylindrical device from the tray. There is a click and one end lights up and spins making a slight humming noise. They pass it over the wound several times and look at the other end when finished.

"It's not too severe. The equipment I have will be able to repair the damage." They replace the device and reach for another one that hangs from something similar to an I.V. stand. It is large and flat with many creases and a handle on its back. They grasp the handle and bring its flat side, opposite of the handle, to their wound. An array of red beams appear and comb over it for several moments and disappear. The device huffs and hisses as it changes size to match the wound. When it is finished they lower it onto the injury and release the handle with the device seemingly attached to them.

The three intently watch as a strange liquid flows from an adjacent tank into a tube that is connected to the device. They hear light moans come from the mech as though they were satisfying a need.

"It will take a bit of time for this to heal. After which we can be on our way. Please make yourselves comfortable." 


	12. A Shaky Meeting

The trio takes to sitting on the floor in their favored positions and pass the time in silence, each of them in deep thought over the recent events and what might happen in the future.

Not being one for letting awkward silence exist for long, Bolin makes his move. "So, what do you think?"

The mech stared blankly. "About what?"

"About the world, or what you have seen of it. You aren't from around here, so all of this must be new."

The mechanical being sat in silence, thinking over what to say. "A lot of green."

"Green?"

"Green and mushy. Not to mention all of this loose dirt. It gets into everything and I've lost count of how many times I've found some plant matter trying to grow on me. It's really annoying."

_Sounds like the most obnoxious tourist ever, _Asami thought.

"However, the air is clear, the weather isn't abrasive or caustic, and its..it's good to see a sunset again."

The three give small surprised glances to each other as Bolin kept talking. "There's no sun from where you are?"

"We have a sun, but we can't see it because of the constant dust storms that block it out."

Asami joins the conversation, "You said earlier that this stuff is what you could salvage. Salvage from what?"

"That will be told when I speak to your leaders soon enough."The mech leans back into the chair, its eyes closed as if they were relaxing. "However, I suppose while we wait I can answer a question or two."

And not a moment after Bolin has his hand raised. "Oh, um I have a question uh sir or ma'am. Uh, just how do we address you?"

"You can speak to me in the manner as you would any of the males of your species."

"Oh, that is good to know, but I was referring if you had a name?"

"In your language, my name is pronounced as Aegis."

"Wait your species has a gender? Also speaking of languages," Asami interjects, "how are you understanding and even speaking ours? You can't exactly hold one of our books."

"No, we don't have genders. As far as I know, it just sorts of happened after encountering other races that spoke with such references, so we went along with the label to avoid confusion. As for being able to speak to you so easily.. honestly, I have no idea. It just happens when I'm around other races that don't speak my language."

A beeping noise emanates from the attached device. Aegis grips the handle and presses a button hidden at the top of the handle near his thumb, causing a distinctive hiss as steam leaves the seal. He place sit away and looked at the sight. New metal skin had taken place of the wound.

"There, all better now. We can head out to your Republic City."

They walk out of the cavern and emerge from the tunnel. The camouflage systems reactivating upon their exit. Aegis transforms and they take their seats inside. They sped away towards the city. Dusk had come when Mako's voice is heard on the radio.

"This is Lieutenant Mako to Tin Man. Come in Tin Man, over."

"Tin Man? Really?! I am not made of flimsy tin."

"It's just Mako following police procedure. He's very by-the-book, so he gave you a code name," Bolin responded. He could hear Aegis mumbling, "Could've chosen some other kind of metal."

A deep sigh escaped from the speakers. "This is, Tin Man, reporting."

"The delegates have arrived and are waiting. Meet us at City Hall. We have enacted curfew so the roads will be clear."

"We'll make our way there. Tin Man out," an audible click sounds and the radio is off. "Huh, how do I get there?"

A moment of disbelief hangs over the three, then Asami speaks in frustration."You have highly advanced technology and you can't figure out where the City Hall is?"

"I didn't have time to take a proper survey of your cities. Not to mention I do really stand out so I can't just drive through the streets."

She sighs over the predicament. "Alright, alright. I'll give you directions."

A feeling of nervousness continued to keep Aegis ill at ease. He was still trying to get used to having their soft, squishy bodies sitting within him as he drove on. On top of that, he has to talk to their world leaders and inform them of the situation.

_What in the name of Primus am I doing?! I'm not a diplomat. I'm not even trained for handling this sort of thing. Ugh, and feeling tired all the damn time doesn't help either._

"Whoa, hey! Hello? You just missed your turn."

"Sorry, my mind was somewhere else. Is there another road I can take?"

Asami ponders for a moment. "Yes, take the next left and go straight through the next two intersections. I'll give more when we get there"

Onward they drove closer to their destination. Aegis becoming increasingly aware of the large foliage growing from everywhere, some of it seemingly overtaken the buildings.

"How long has this place been abandoned?"

"Abandoned?",Korra questioned, clearly shocked by his inquiry. "It's only been three and a half years since they grew. People still live and work here."

"I don't see how you could with these conditions, but three and a half years ago? Is this normal?"

"No, this only happened due to Harmonic Convergence, after I opened the spirit portals."

Aegis thought for a moment on whether or not Korra was pulling his fender. He decided it was best to not ask. "I'll take your word for it. I don't understand how your people can live here."

"Well at first people wanted to get rid of the roots, but when that wasn't an option they decided they could either stay here and learn to live with nature or leave. They chose to stay and people have taken a liking to the new look."

"Uh, I hate to interrupt," Bolin nervously said, "but we're almost at City Hall and the lights are going out."

"This is odd," Asami quips.

Korra adds, "Maybe Chief Lin is turning them off as we go to keep us hidden."

"Chief Lin?," Aegis asks.

"She's in charge of the police force for Republic City. Mako works for her."

"And she is a bender as well?"

"Yup. She and the entire police force are earth benders, well except for Mako. They can also bend metal as well."

"That would mean the entire city is a weapon for them to use. Impressive.No wonder Stratus avoided your city."

They arrive at their destination. The outdoor lights of City Hall illuminated its rich marble exterior. Aegis stops just short of the stair entrance and the trio exit. He still felt worried about the task that is to come.

"Korra, do you think they'll listen to me?"

She turns with a reassuring smile. "They probably won't at first, butI'll convince them. Trust me."

Bolin nervously asks, "Where are they?"

The earth shifted beneath them, erecting wide slabs behind Bolin, Korra, and Asami; pushing them away from Aegis towards the steps.

"Whoa, hey!" Korra cried out in surprise, stopping the slab cold. Aegis briefly sees her come around it before he is encapsulated in a dome of metal and stone.

The ground trembles slightly as the floor at the entrance of City Hall slides out of view. Korra sees the Republic Police force emerge from the hole en mass, followed by Chief Lin and Mako.

Korra looked to see that Bolin managed to stop his and Asami's' wall, knowing they were alright she walked over to the chief to figure out what is going on.

"Lin, what are you doing?!" She points to the dome, "He came here peacefully."

"Sorry Korra not my call." Lin annoyingly thumbs over to Raiko walking outside from the hole along with Tonraq, Korra's father and Leader of the Northern Water Tribe, Fire Lord Izumi Leader of the Fire Nation, and Desna and Eska, Korra's cousins who are in charge of the SouthernWater Tribe.

Reiko approaches Korra with his usual smug look on his face. "I must thank you Avatar for bringing this thing into our custody. Once we properly secure it we can perform an interrogation."

Korra was angered over the harsh treat Aegis was receiving. "I didn't bring you a prisoner! He came here willingly to ask for our help. It was his insistence for this meeting to happen because he stated that it is our right to know what is going on. If you'll give him a moment to explain everything."

A voice spoke up from among the delegates. "I agree with Korra. Let this person speak." It was Tonraq.

Raiko scoffs at their words. "Out of the question! I am not letting this opportunity slip away."

A sudden whoosh of air kicks up the dirt and soot from the ground as Juicy landed near the assembled parties. Their riders Opal and Tenzin mounting off. He smiles at the former pupil, giving a nod to her. "It is good to see you Korra. Where is this "Tin Man" of yours?"

The Avatar merely had to point at the dome and Tenzin instantly knew what had happened.

Tenzin gave the United Republic president a stern look of disapproval."Raiko! Mako's report stated that the Tin Man had come here in peace and wanted to ask for our aid. We should let them say their piece."

"Need I remind everyone that this thing and its cohort, **who **remains unaccounted for, destroyed Asami's industrial center. Hundreds of millions of dollars in damages and hundreds of lives were placed in danger from their bout. We can not trust beings with such destructive behavior."

"I can speak for myself President Raiko," Asami stepped in. 'Yes, their fight destroyed equipment and materials, but he kept the attacker at bay long enough for my employees to escape." She takes a moment to look at her girlfriend. "He also saved Korra when they were attacked by these metal drones even though she had just chased after him. She says she trusts him and I trust Korra. Let him speak."

"You can't be serious." Raiko turns to the remaining delegates. "Firelord Izumi, surely you understand and support my position on this matter?"

Firelord Izumi, daughter of the previous Fire Lord Zuko, contemplates fora moment, her gaze steadily on the dome. "We have doubted Avatar Korra in the past and it nearly cost us everything. Let this creature speak. If they are willing to divulge information then why bother with interrogation."

"But..", seeing his protests fall on deaf ears Raiko holds his tongue His face seething with frustration as he tries to come to a decision. "Fine! We'll let this thing have its say," he turns to Korra, "but I'm holding you personally responsible if it gets out of line."

Izumi rolls her eyes over Raiko's comment. "I'm quite sure your Chief of Police will be able to provide adequate security measures."


	13. Jolly Cooperation

Chief Lin walks forth and stops at the bottom of the stairs where a line of her officers stood at attention. "Alright people! I want a defensive line in front of the delegates and that dome surrounded."

The officers swiftly follow her orders, forming a row at her sides and encircling Aegis's prison. "When we lower those walls I want everyone to remain calm, no sudden aggressive actions. Got it?!"

A resounding, "Yes Ma'am!", echoed among the ranks.

Muffled noise is all Aegis could hear from beneath the dome. He wondered what was going on outside. The possibility of betrayal was indeed on his mind, but the Avatar's sincerity in her words conflicted with it. His first instinct was to break out of his prison, but he decided it was best to wait and let Korra speak with her leaders. _I must stay calm. I need to trust her. _He quietly chuckles to himself. _This is absurd, here I am stuck on an alien world and I'm trusting a complete stranger, who can turn me into scrap at the drop of a hat, to advocate on my behalf. And to top it all off I have to hunt down and arrest.. her._

Aegis could only lament over his mission, trying to figure out the reason for what she is doing. "What happened to you? What are you doing here? Why did you try to kill me?"

He groans in frustration shifting his wheels from side to side. "So.. tired. Why am I tired? I recharged four hours ago didn't I?"The sound of his rocky prison rescinding into the ground snaps his attention to more current matters.

With it removed Aegis could see he was surrounded by uniformed humans standing at arm's length from each other. Behind them, at a distance, was another row standing in front of the Avatar and her companions, but new faces were also present. One of them, a tall one with gray hair whose garb was similar to the other uniformed humans, stepped forth from the group. Aegis fought the urge to transform and stand at attention under her steel gaze.

"I'll keep this simple. My name is Chief Lin. I am in charge of the police force that keeps the peace in Republic City. Stay civil, answer our questions, and no sudden moves or we won't hesitate to bury you."

_Keep calm, just stay calm. Remember what you were taught._"Understood. I mean you no harm."

"Except for that tussle you and the other one had earlier today!", Raiko shouted. "How did you mean no harm during that?!"

"I take full responsibility for my actions. I am sorry for the destruction we caused. I wanted to bring a quick end to my pursuit, but I overestimated my ability to apprehend the fugitive. Which is why I have requested the Avatar's aid and for this meeting. I need your help."

Raiko walks past his guards, anger in his voice. "Hold on there just a minute. Is this a joke?" He turns to Mako. "Lieutenant, your report told of two giant machines that fought in my city, but all we have here is this grossly oversized talking car."

Tenzin says, "If you had actually read the report you would've known that Mako mentioned their ability to change form."

"Change form or not, you expect me to believe that this is something else other than an over-elaborate mech suit with a human pilot some wherein there?"

"If it would please the delegates, may I request permission to change form? I will be able to give further proof of who I am."

The delegates look to each other and nod in agreement. Tonraq spoke for their decision. "We thank you for your consideration and agree that it would be best for you to do so."

"Thank you though these guards may want to take a few steps back."Lin gives them the signal to follow his suggestion. _It's been a while since I've given the old transformation cog a good stretch, but I'll need to take this slow. Everyone is on edge as it is._

Aegis could feel the familiar shifting of his internal components. The sounds of parts disconnecting, reconnecting, and folding into themselves as his vehicular form gives way to the ancient motions of transformation. The rear wheel hubs separate and uncurl with the wheels sinking into the back of his shins, just above his heel. His sides detach with his hands slipping from inside the arms. The front-wheels collapsing into connected sections that trail away to hide in their hubs that form a slightly protruding shoulder plate. Feeling the transformation nearing its end Aegis brings a leg forward to stand up, towering over everyone. The changes stop as his head emerges from inside his torso. His metallic body settling into this new form.

Nothing but silence remand. The ones unfamiliar with the sight they had seen stared on, their mouths gaped in shock and awe.

The metal being, even though they had no visible mouth, spoke in the most pleading of tones. "Before I show you my proof I must ask you to remain calm and do nothing drastic. What I am showing you is something very sensitive to my people. It is rarely performed and only done so in private."

Firelord Izumi spoke reassuringly. "On my word of honor, you will not be harmed."

They nod and bring their arms down near their chest in a presenting manner. A clanging and hiss are heard then the chest popped forward a bit as though it were free from a tight fit. The thick, metal panels slowly swing open and slide back on the hinge they hang from. Inside laid a protruding metal covering that slides away to reveal an orb emanating a bright glow from within. Not a word was spoken as everyone stared on at such a sight. The benders present could feel something magnificent and precious was being shown to them. Korra however, felt something more.

It was something familiar. Something that she felt from Asami; her friends; Ravaa; the spirits; every living thing on this world. The revelation left her breathless. "It can't be."

Raiko, on the other hand, couldn't fathom with was being presented. "What is that? Some kind of reactor or power source? Come on now enough of this light show. Reveal your face."

Korra interrupted the president. "Raiko that's not a reactor. It's his soul. He is showing us his soul." She addresses Aegis, "Isn't it?"

"It is known as a spark to my people." The protective coverings replace themselves, sealing away his essence. "But yes it is my very soul. Everything that I am and can be is there."

Tenzin asks the most prevalent question on everyone's mind. "Who are you?"

"My name is Aegis. I am a robotic organism from another world beyond the stars. Six of your months ago I awoke on a crippled vessel with no memory of arriving there. The ship was orbiting your planet. I had found the crew slaughtered. Upon examination of the ship's records, I found a transmission stating that the ship was stolen along with its crew and brought here. It also contained orders to apprehend the one responsible for those actions. That same person is also the one who has been abducting your people."

"And exactly who is this person we are dealing with?", Opal asks.

"Her name is Stratus. The former head of security for my homeworld. She is powerful, cunning, and is a highly experienced combatant. I do not know why she is here nor do I understand why she has taken your people. The only thing I do know is that I must stop her, but I am no match for her alone. The Avatar and her team have already firmly stated their willingness to aid me, but protocol demands that if I am to involve the native populace then I must inform their world's leaders of the situation."

Suyin stood up from her seat. "We thank you for informing us of this dire situation. What do you plan on doing now?"

Aegis ponders for a moment, stroking the chin of his faceplate. "We need to figure out where she is and what she is planning. However, I am at a loss as to how to proceed with this."

"What exactly has she done since she has been here? Maybe that can give us clues on where to look?", Korra suggests.

"Aside from the fight at the factories we know she is responsible for the six-month streak of kidnappings," Asami says.

Aegis asked, "Is there anything of note about the people she has taken? It would be hard to believe that it's all at random."

Lin turned to her second, "Mako do you still have those notes you've been collecting on the victims from when the kidnappings started?"

"Yes, ma'am." Mako walks towards Aegis, taking out his thick notebook and sifting through its pages. "I've written down the names and details of those taken not only from Republic City but also anyone from the other nations that disappeared under similar circumstances."

Aegis squats as Mako approach for a better look at his notebook. One of the guards raises their hand to stop him. "Sir, I'm sorry, but for your safety, you can't go any further."

Aloud ahem escapes Lin's lips calling the attention of her cadet. Aegis could see her give a slight nod to her subordinate. They stand aside letting Mako pass.

He walks to Aegis and turns around so he could view the notebooks' contents over his shoulder. Mako slowly flips through the pages at Aegis' behest recounting what he had poured over for months.

"All the people missing are a combination of earth and metal benders, physicists, chemists, geologists, engineers, and electronics experts. Along with that, there have been numerous reports of stolen food, tools, construction materials, some heavy machinery, radios and batteries from electronics stores."

"Hmm, "Aegis ponders, "she has been very busy."

"I have a question." Bolin asks, "How was she able to kidnap all of these people? If she is as big as you then sneaking around would be impossible."

Out the corner of his optics, Aegis could see Korra's face lit up as she made a connection. "It was those four-legged machines, wasn't it? Those drones?"

Aegis nods in agreement. "That is the best possibility. They were designed for scouting, but they could easily be repurposed for such a task. With those units gone she will not be able to take anyone else."

Lin interjects, "Well that is a relief, but what is the reason she kidnapped these people, where is she, and what is she doing with those stolen materials?"

Asami's' brow narrows as she thinks hard on the information that has been revealed. An idea comes to her. "Mako let me see the list of materials taken from me."

He brings her the notebook and she looks through the list of items, stopping at one when her eyes light up at the discovery. "Those are boring drills and that is the housing they could use to fit them on. She could have them make a makeshift tunnel boreing machine with everything stolen here and.. it seems with quite a bit leftover."

Aegis asks the more pertinent question. "Where would she go to build and use such a device?"

"It would have to be the open lands of the Earth Kingdom," Opal replies. "Tons of deserted land with mountain ranges. I bet they are full of raw metals for her to use."

"How many of these mountain ranges do you have? How long are they?"

She solemnly states, "Several, each hundred of miles long."

A grunt of frustration escapes his vocal processor. "That is far too much area to cover. Is there any way to narrow it down?"

"Ooh, ooh!" Sounds of excitement escape from Bolin. Everyone's eye turned onto him. His level of excitement only matched by the speed of his voice. "I remember something. When I was working with Kuvira, "quickly turning to Opal, "who is a really, really bad lady and I'm sorry for siding with her," leaving a loving smirk on her face. "I remember that she had survey teams sent out to check the mountains for any dense metal deposits. I don't know who would have the reports now, but if we can find them they might help."

Opal hugs Bolin giving him a peck on the cheek. "Great job remembering this." He returns her statement with a smile of relief holding each other tight.

Aegis looked on in confusion as the two humans embraced one another. "Okay.. does anyone know where these survey reports are?"

The Leader of Zaofu, Suyin, spoke. "Normally the materials from a fallen regime would've been handed back to the nation where the information was obtained. However, since the Earth Kingdom is now mostly defunct and no central government or committee has been established. My people have stepped in to deal with the task of dismantling everything Kuvira had done. I will make arrangements to have a copy of the reports sent here before you leave. If you'll excuse me." Suyin hurries off to make her call.

Tenzin spoke to his disciple. "Opal I would like you to go with Korra and your friends. I believe your help will be invaluable."

She bows. "Yes, Master Tenzin."

"Then it's settled," Firelord Izumi spoke. "The Avatar and her team will assist Aegis in their efforts to find and apprehend this Stratus before more harm comes to anyone. With that said I think it's best that we increase the security of our nation's borders until this person is apprehended." Her attention falls on Aegis. "However if I may make a request?"

"It is within your right," he replies.

"I think I speak for everyone here when I ask that you aid the Avatar in freeing those that have been taken. I know your mission is focused on Stratus, but those poor souls have family and friends that will miss them dearly. They have been praying for their return."

The mechanical being nods. "You have my word that I will do everything in my power to aid in their freedom and safety."

Knowing all too well that the president wanted to speak out on this turn of events the Firelord mentions to him, "Something you wish to add President Raiko?"

Standing straight with his arms crossed and a scowling face he spoke. "Only that I agree to this 'co-operative' mission with such an obviously dangerous thing in protest."

Izumi rolls her eyes on the childish words. "Duly noted. If that is all we shall take our leave. We all have a lot of work to do." 


	14. History Lesson

Aegis watches on as the dignitaries disperse via their own private transportation vehicles that were retrieved from beneath the stone ground. _This went a lot better than I could've hoped. Now we just need to wait for the manifest. _If he had a mouth he would be smiling.

Aegis shifted his weight between his legs waiting while watching everyone leave. He noticed Chief Lin talking to Opal and Asami speaking with Korra before leaving. The urge to get moving and complete his mission weighing heavily on his spark. _Why do I feel this way? Just awhile ago I felt drained, now I feel raring to go. I'll need to give myself a once over when this is done._

Bolin's words draw him from his thoughts, "Hey Aegis you ok?"

"I am fine just lost in thought. I'm still amazed over all of this cooperation. I was not expecting them to be so trusting."

"Well, I think it's more that they trust Korra's word. I mean with everything she has done she's more than earned it."

The possibility of learning the Avatars past exploits perked his interest, "Exactly, what has she done?"

Bolin's face becomes full of glee over the request. He quickly recounts Korra's journey of the increasingly dangerous trials and tribulations that she and Team Avatar overcame with ever-increasing enthusiasm.

First, there was the dreaded Amon. A man who incited fear and hatred towards benders by manipulating non-benders through trickery and deceit. Claiming to scarred by a fire bender and gifted by the spirits with the power to take away a person's bending when in reality he was a powerful water bender that could use blood bending without the moon to achieve the effect. He even managed to take away Korra's bending, but amazingly she still maintained her air bending because she hadn't formed a connection to it. She used it to depose and reveal Amon as the fraud he was.

"Wait, if her bending was taken away how is she able to use them now?"

"Oh uh, Avatar Aang, her past life, was able to restore her bending. And taught her the same technique so that she could give it back to the other that had theirs taken."

"Aha..ok." _I have no idea what he meant, but I'll just go along with him. _"Please continue."

Bolin went on to talking about someone called Unalaq, a former leader of the Southern Water Tribe. During that time there had been dark spirits popping up everywhere causing trouble, to say the least, and everyone thought he was trying to help quell their numbers. Instead, his plan was to rule the Northern Water Tribe which caused a civil war to break out, he tricked and then forced Korra to reopen the Spirit Portals, ancient gateways that used to allow people to physically travel to the spirit world. Upon entering his true intentions were revealed, to free Vaatu, a powerful, ancient, and evil spirit that was Raava's opposite. Unalaq merged with him and fought Korra. Unfortunately, she lost and Raava was taken away and destroyed, ending the Avatar cycle and cutting Korra off from her past lives.

"A moment please, but who is this Raava?"

"She is the spirit of light that stands against Vaatu's darkness. She merged with the first Avatar, Wan, which started the entire Avatar reincarnation cycle and created the Avatar Spirit."

"If Raava was destroyed then how can she", pointing to Korra, "still be the Avatar?"

"Well we thought that was the case, but in actuality, they can't exist without each other. Jinora, Tenzin's daughter and Master Airbender, showed Korra that Raava was inside Vaatu, regaining her strength. By the time everything was figured out though Vaatu had merged withUnalaq to become a Dark Avatar and became this, Bolin puffed himself up for emphasis, a HUGE spirit like way bigger than you. Tenzin was able to convince Korra that she could still win because she still has her own spirit, so by using a really, really, really old tree she became a giant, blue spirit woman and flew off to fight Vaatu where she pulled Raava out of them before purifying him. After that they re-merged back together, restarting the Avatar cycle anew and left the spirit portals open. Which is why there are spirits everywhere. You can't miss the light those portals give off. I mean look." Bolin points to the towering beacon in the far distance.

Aegis looked in the distance, following his finger. _Whatis he talking about? I don't see anything he described. Better to just go along with him._"Uh-huh. I see. Did leaving these portals open have any repercussions?"

"They did actually. Korra said that the world's energy was shifting and that somehow led to numerous non-benders from all over the world suddenly gaining the ability to bend the air."

"Was that a good thing?"

"Absolutely! There were only five airbenders in the whole world after they were nearly wiped out over a hundred years ago. If that didn't happen they might have died out and, I wouldn't have met Opal."

_Ahh, that human. She is quite fierce. _"Is there anymore to share?"

Bolin scratched his head, taking a moment to think of how to place events."Well, when we heard about the sudden appearance of airbenders Korra and Tenzin wanted to go find them. So it was me, Mako, Asami, Tenzin, Jinora, Meelo, Ikki, Bumi, and Chief Lin got on Asami's airship and set out on a globe-trotting trek to recruit them. It was difficult at first, we found a little kid named Kai and we had to fight against the Earth Queen to rescue the airbenders she imprisoned."

"So you were able to accomplish your mission?"

"Yeah, it was difficult convincing people to come with us, but we managed to turn it around. Then we heard that Lin's sister, Suyin Beifong, contacted us to tell that Opal, her daughter, had also become an airbender."

Aegis noticed on mentioning Opal that the skin on Bolin's cheeks had gone red and his eyes wistfully staring off into the distance. "Uh, are you alright?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah I was just remembering meeting Opal the first time. She looks more beautiful now, but wow she was radiant then too. I'm a lucky guy."

Hoping to get back on track Aegis asked what happened when they went to see Opal.

"It went well at first, kinda. I tried to metalbend, but found out I couldn't though Korra was able to do it cause she's awesome. She also gave Opal her first lessons on airbending. Then family issues came out. Lin was mad at Suyin for some particular reason, sibling disputes you know. They got it out of their system after fighting each other and worked things out. Then the Red Lotus tried to kidnap Korra."

"Who tried to kidnap the Avatar?"

"The Red Lotus. Creepy, evil guys who wanted to get rid of the Avatar because they saw it as something that controlled the world. We were able to stop them the first time, but then they kidnapped the new airbenders, threatening to kill them. Korra wouldn't let that happen and turned herself over for their freedom."

Aegis recalled his own experience in dealing with shady characters. "Hmm let me guess, they went back on the deal?"

"Yeah. We were able to track them down and rescue the new benders, but we were almost too late for Korra. They... did something to her."

Aegis had noticed a change in Bolin's demeanor. Gone was the light in his eyes. The cheerful vigor replaced with sullen conduct as the continued his tale.

"She was able to escape and went to fight Zaheer, the leader of the RedLotus, while I and Mako fought the other two members, but something was wrong. She kept going in and out of the Avatar State. We found out later that they used some kind of metal to poison her. She was fighting to stay alive while fighting Zaheer."

Bolin stopped for a moment to collect himself, tears welled up in his eyes as he fought through the surge of emotions from that horrible day.

_That must have been a truly frightening time. _Aegis thought to himself. "Easy there. How did she win?"

"Well, during the fight Zaheer got the upper hand. He bent the air out of her lungs and she began to suffocate. We felt powerless to help until Jinora came up with the idea to have every airbender there to combine their powers to create a vortex that sucked Zaheer down, giving Korra enough time to beat him."

Bolin was gripping his arm tightly. Thin streams of tears rain down his face as he continued. "We almost lost her. Suyin was able to pull the metal out of Korra, but it left her so weak. She couldn't walk; she barely ate or spoke even when Jinora was appointed as an AirbendingMaster. It was as if the life was gone from her."

"Everyone was devastated over what happened to Korra, but I think Asami took it the hardest. She spent every moment she had taken care of her during the day. At night she would take care of her business as CEO through the mail, telegrams, and phone calls. She did this for weeks with me andMako helping whenever we could without getting in the way."

Aegis watched Bolin in silence. He may be a being of metal and circuits, but he understood the need to vent. The feeling of life's events crushing your very spark, threatening to overwhelm you. It was something he used to do with Stratus when he was in training.

"It took a toll on her, Asami. She would never admit it though. I'd try to cheer her up or take her mind off of things with a few games of Pai Sho." He gave a weak laugh. "Still haven't been able to beat her, but I am getting better. Me and Mako just didn't know what we could really do to help. Asami was so dead-set on staying by Korra's side while she recovered and we thought that seemed to be the best thing for her. I, I sometimes wonder if we could've done more to help."

Bolin's' lips quivered as he tried to hold back the torrent of emotions his memories had brought. Aegis felt some words of encouragement were needed. "As bad as things were they did get better, no? I mean she is here now; active, full of life, and powerful. Whatever she went through she made it. Everything everyone did to help, helped."

Bolin wipes away the tears on his sleeve. "Yeah, but it wasn't a quick recovery for her. She left for the South Pole where Katara, the world's best healer, lived. We didn't see her for nearly three years."

"That is a long time for your kind?"

"Oh yeah, especially if you are waiting for a friend. By the time she got back things were, once again, messed up. Everyone went their separate ways, we still hung out once in a while, but we tried to live our own lives. Then this really bad, lying lady named Kuvira came in and took over the Earth Kingdom. She turned it into an empire. I uh, ended up working for her at first because I thought she was a good person who wanted to help people and I was doing something worthwhile with my life. I was wrong, so very wrong."

"You said the Avatar got better. I don't see how this Kuvira was a threat if that was the case."

Bolin became silent, looking away from Aegis.

"Right?"

"The first time Korra fought Kuvira, she lost. Jinora and Opal were able to save her in time. Korra thought that since she was able to remove the last bits of that poison metal before her fight that she was ready, but she still couldn't reach Raava nor access the Avatar State. Korra had to figure out why that was happening while dealing with the fallout of Kuvira's actions."

"Fallout of what actions?"

"We didn't know it at the time, but Kuvira was developing not only a giant mech, and when I mean giant I mean bigger than you, but also with a superweapon to go with it. An arm cannon powered by spirit vines."

"Wait,what are spirit vines; and how did you find this out?"

"Spirit vines are plants that have loads of spiritual energy. I don't know why they are that way, but they pack a punch. As to how we found out it was due to Zhu Li. She was an assistant for Varrick, an inventor, and businessman, but faked siding with Kuvira to learn what she was doing. It was thanks to her that the weapon was constantly delayed. Eventually, though Kuvira found out about the sabotage and had her chained to a tower that was going to be destroyed in the first testfire. However, me, Opal, and Toph Beifong, The Original Metal Bender herself, went to rescue the rest of the Beifong family and put a stop to Kuvira's plans. Except we got our butts kicked and had to run after Toph rescued us, but not before rescuing Zhu Li."

"Did the weapon work?"

"Yeah, it destroyed a mountain in one blast. Kuvira had the mech and weapon completed and took her entire army with it to take over Republic City because, in her eyes, it was on her lands. Raiko had the city evacuated before she arrived and planned on fighting them with his own army, but when she used that cannon again to destroy the battleships, he gave in."

"But the Avatar had other ideas, didn't she?"

Smiling he replies, "Oh yeah. She hatched a plan to capture Kuvira's husband, Bataar Jr. She figured she could use him as a bargaining chip to have Kuvira leave the city. Her, Tenzin, and Bumi were ableto capture him, but the other half of the plan didn't work. Kuvira found out where we were and tried to kill us with that arm cannon."

"Tried? She fired something that can destroy mountains and somehow all of you survived?"

Bolin thought on those harrowing moments following Kuvira's attack on their hideout. "Frankly, I do not have a clue how we survived, but we did. I held up an entire wall of the storehouse we were in and everyone was able to get away. I'm just glad everyone made it out."

Bolin went on to explain that after they retreated they came up with a plan. Asami would have her father taken out of prison to help with finishing the construction of two prototype hummingbird mechs that could cut into Kuvira's mech and allow them to get in and disable it. The mechs skin was entirely constructed with platinum, a metal that was too pure to bend, while the others keep her attention off of them. Unfortunately, Asami's father was lost in the effort, but he was able to cut a hole that we could use to get inside.

Lin and Suyin were able to render the arm that the cannon was mounted on useless. Mako nearly killed himself in destroying the mech. All the while Korra and Kuvira fought it out on the mechs' bridge. Eventually, the thing fell apart after Mako overloaded its core. Kuvira ran for it after that, still bent on completing her plans. Korra, being who she is, tried to reason with her when she cornered Kuvira in a nearby city forest, but Kuvira refused to listen and tried to kill her with the cannon that had fallen there since it still had a charge. It was dangling on vines and the whole thing went out of control, firing everywhere. When it came after Kuvira, Korra step in front of the blast and bent its energy creating a new spirit portal. After that Kuvira surrendered stating that Korra was more powerful than anything she could hope to match.

"Things slowly returned to normal after that. Zhu Li and Varrick married. Korra and Asami went on a much needed secret vacation and came back as girlfriends. Mako went back to the police force. I joined him and got sent with Opal to help rebuild what Kuvira had destroyed."

"There you are," a cheerful voice called out. Opal had come over smiling as she hugged Bolin. "I see you two have been chatting up a storm over here. Let me guess you were telling Aegis the history of Team Avatar?"

He blushes, "Yeah."

She laughed, "That's my Bolin, always eager to tell the story." She turns to their new addition. "Sorry I didn't properly introduce myself," she gave the Airbender bow of respect, "I am Opal Beifong. I hope we can get to know one another."

"Oh uh," Aegis returns the courtesy though more of a half bow. He could still feel some rusted stiffness in his joints. "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"Hey, guys." It was Korra who had come over to join as well. "My ears have been burning. Who's ranting about me?"

Aegis gives a quick once over of Opal and Korra seeking to find something on them that aflame. "Why did you say your ears were burning? I don't see any smoke coming off of you."

They look at each other in confusion till Korra makes the connection. "Oh! Uh, right. Different people, different understandings. Sorry about that Aegis, it's just an expression. I had the sense you two were talking about me."

"Ahh. Well, Bolin here was gracious enough to give me a brief history of the adventures of Team Avatar. They are interesting tales."

Korra beams at her earth bending friend. 'Is that so? Maybe when this is all over we can all sit down and reminisce."

Aegis mulls over the possibility. "Maybe." He sees Korra holding onto a strange white, thin rectangle. "What is that you are holding?"

"Oh this?", she brings it into view. "It's the survey report. We'll go over it once we are airborne."

Aegis was struck with shock over her statement. "Airborne? You have developed aerial transportation?"

"Yup,"she nods. "You'll see. If you don't mind, would you give us a lift? I know the way there."

"I can do that."

Aegis assumes his vehicular form and they proceed to Asami's private airfield. They arrive and pile out of Aegis who transforms for a better view of the area.

There are three hangars placed in a semi-circular pattern connected to the main airstrip through a connecting road. Their lights illuminating the night sky and the surrounding area. Everywhere is abuzz with people running from place to place, carrying equipment, supplies, or paperwork. Aegis could see their means of aerial transport in the distance. A massive blimp of steel and fabric anchored in the middle of the junction road hub for the hangars. Mako, Bolin, Opal, and Korra had already gone ahead to meet with Asami, but something else caught Aegis' sight, Asami's car.

_It is rather remarkable that this was able to keep up with me. I wonder.._ He activates the long-dormant alt mode scanning systems. Thin beams of blue light emitted from his optics, drinking in every minute detail of this custom machinery. _Interesting. The metal alloys used to make this are of a higher quality than the others I have scanned. The combustion engine oil composition is different. Did she give it two extra pistons too? Hmm, air intake manifolds are far more-_

"Hey! What are you doing?"

The sudden shout startles Aegis, interrupting the scan. He turns and looks down to see Asami glaring at him, the rest of the team and surrounding personnel were looking on. "I was uh, just scanning your vehicle."

Her eyes squint and lips thinned as though she became the embodiment of suspicion itself. "Scanning? Why are you scanning my car?"

"I am uh, trying to understand how your vehicle was able to keep up with me and I can see why. This "car" of yours has been meticulously designed at a high degree of precision and engineered for maximum performance. Its mechanic definitely knows what they were going."

Asami is slightly taken aback over the compliment though nonetheless gratified someone acknowledges her work. "Oh, well thank you. She can be a bit of a pain to work on, but I love tinkering with every piece when I get the chance."

His optics widen in surprise over Asami's admittance. "You built this?"

She nods. "Yep, I designed her from the ground up. That big 5 liter of hers took forever to get the combustion ratio just right. Not to mention fitting everything together properly so that the balance wasn't off."

"Excuse me, Miss Sato," It was a cute, meekly voice from a dark-skinned woman wearing goggles and her uniform covered in grease. "The airship is all set to go. We just need your final inspection to approve takeoff."

"Thank you Miia. I'll go take a look, could you escort our friend to the cargo bay?'"

"Yes Ma'am." Asami jogs off to her ship. Miia slowly looks up to the towering metallic being. "Just how tall are you?"

"In your units, I am a little over nine meters tall. I take it your cargo bay isn't as tall as me?"

She nods with a worried look. "Unfortunately yes. The cargo bay is only four and a half meters tall. You could sit in there, but you would have to crawl in first."

Aegis thought of a different method in order to keep his dignity. "I'll just transform and drive in there if you don't mind." He takes a step back and changes form. "Lead the way." Miia walks him over to the airship. Its massive oblong, fabric cylinder contained in a metal cage loomed over them. "You use hydrogen to keep this afloat?" he asked Miia.

"Actually we use helium. It's far safer to use than hydrogen. You know you're quite lucky to be flying in this."

"Oh?"

She smiles, her face beaming with pride. "Yep. This is a prototype designed by Asami herself. The older models have far more metal in their structure which weighs them down. With her engineering skills and lots of elbow grease, we shaved off about seventy percent of the weight. Which means we have the fastest airship in the world while still maintaining the same structural strength. We're hoping it catches on and becomes a top seller." Miia takes him round to the cargo bay and Aegis drives in, watching the door close.


	15. Heigh-Ho, It's off to work we go

_Hmm, could be worse. They could've turned off the lights__. _He feels the familiar touch of fatigue gnawing at his brain module. _I better power down for a bit, this could take a while. _The world dies around him as his senses sound off one by one.

Asami arrives in the lounge where friends and loved ones had gathered. Korra is the first to notice her presence.

"Inspection go well honey?", a cherry smile sweetens her words.

Asami feels her cheeks flush red with heat. _Spirits Korra, you can still make me blush like a high school girl. _"Absolutely. We will be departing the moment we get air clearance. The United Republic military is still keeping tight control over the air space."

A voice from earlier calls down from the bridge above. "Miss Sato we just received the clearance for flight. What is our destination?" It was Miia, she had changed from her previous clothes to her pilot's uniform. Asami made sure that everyone inboard was trained and experienced in maintenance hence the greasy uniform earlier.

"Thank you, Miia. Set a course for the center of the Earth Nation territory. We'll let you know when to change course."

"Yes, Ma'am." A sudden sinking stomach feeling sets in as the airship rises from the ground. Asami sits down with her friends at the multi-functional conference table, currently converted into an avigation table with a flat world map comes out from below its surface. She made a point to convert this table to help make destinations and form plans.

Mako had already retrieved the latest detailed map of the Earth Nation from one of the side compartments under the table. She could see they had already started placing wooden markers at various locations on the map. The number of possible sites grew to an unsuitable amount. Mako was the first to speak on their first predicament, "Wow, that's a lot of places to visit. Anyone have an idea which one is first?"

Bolin agrees, "Yeah Kuvira wanted to know where every resource she could use was. I figured we could just put everything we have on here and start taking things off if they don't meet our requirements. Whatever those are."

Opal tenderly grasps his shoulder, "That's a good idea sweetie." She looks at the map. "So where do we start?"

Mako thought over what to do for a moment before speaking. "I think it's safe for us to remove the sites with low ore concentrations. Anyone looking to build something wouldn't waste their time there." They place half of the wooden markers back into their container.

A thought of how to reduce the number of sites further occurred to Asami. She looks over at Mako, "Hand me that survey would you?" She receives it and reviews the contents noting the locations that met the criteria she was looking for. She felt the presence of Korra who was peeking over her shoulder.

Korra looks up to her love, "I know those eyes, you found something."

Asami returns the loving gaze with a cheeky smile, "More like somethings." She removes a third of the remaining pieces. "These ones here are too deep in the mountain range, making it difficult to mine even with a tunnel boring machine." A quick glance at the paper and she removes even more from the map. "The ore at these sites are of low quality. Refining it to something viable would take more time than using the others."

The group took more sites off as Asami went through the list, most of it was due to being too close to hazardous environments like active volcanoes, fault lines, or underwater. Fives sites remained after their efforts were finished.

Asami continued to stare at the parcel frowning. She sighs and lowers the paper onto the table. "I have no idea how to reduce the remaining sites to one. The survey says they all have high-quality iron along with some possible signs of platinum."

Mako reaches cross to retrieve the report and looks over the information on the remaining sites. "Wait a minute," he points to a site in the middle of the survey, "this one has a number series that is different from the rest." He hands the paper off to his brother, "Can you make anything of it?"

Bolin looks over the information of the site, "Those numbers are a shorthand we used to describe odd findings. Things they didn't have an explanation for. It says that the ore is in small amounts, highly energetic, and somewhat difficult to bend."

Asami makes a mental note of the site's coordinates. They were a good six hours away at full speed. "I'll go inform Miia to change course. We should arrive there sometime in the morning."

Opal lets out a yawn, her tired mind felt heavy. "Speaking of the morning. I think it's best that we all get some rest. I've got a feeling that tomorrow will be very busy."

Korra nods in agreement. "Yeah, we've done well today. We'll see each other in the morning." While the others leave for their rooms she waits for Asami to return from giving instructions to Miia.

Korra takes a moment to stretch and yawn after the morning meal. "Mornings are evil." Her remark earns the chuckles of her friends. "I'm going to go check on Aegis. Let him know what's going on. Anyone want to join?"

Mako was at his seat writing in his personal notebook, no doubt making a report to file later for Chief Lin. "I'll be along. Just gotta finish writing this out."

"Ok. Bolin? Opal? You two want to tag along?"

The couple take a quick look at each other, silently asking themselves the same question. Opal looks at Korra saying, "Sure we'll come with you."

She thinks about Asami. _She'sprobably sitting at her desk going through whatever paperwork she needs to do. I should let her be. Last night was a heavy one. She needs time to herself._

The trio made their way through the airship's interior, arriving at the cargo bay in short order. They come to a railing that provides an overview of the storage area, with a connected ladder to the far right providing a path down. They see Aegis, in vehicular form, had taken up space in the middle of the rooms' floor. He makes no sign that he is aware of their presence.

Korra calls out to him, "Hey there Aegis. I got some good news for you. "They wait a moment for a reply, but he says nothing. "Aegis?"

"Is there something wrong with him?", Bolin asks.

"I'm not sure. Let's get down there and take a look."

They make their way down via the stairs and ladder. The trio slowly approached Aegis with caution. They call out to him as they draw nearer, but nothing happens still. Korra had a growing suspicion that something was off with him.

_It's still weird feeling spiritual energy coming from a machine. _She could hear Raava agree with her thoughts. _But something feels off from before. Maybe if I. _She reaches out and touches the car hood.

Quiet, tranquil darkness engulfed him here. The odd, contradictory state of being and not being felt right though. Where you are aware, but also unaware of yourself. Floating forever in nothingness. However, something else gnawed at him. It was faint almost wispy, but it steadily grew stronger along with something else. Something that all beings felt when the unknown approached. Something primal. Fear. Fear had become his new companion and the expressionless landscape changed. Where he felt formless before was now solid, unaware now keenly vigilant, and the feeling of floating interrupted with something pulling him through the nothingness.

Far in the distance, he could see a faint light cracking through the black veil. Fear grew into terror as the pulling centered around his spark. Pain seared through him as it felt as though it would be torn out from his chest. Aegis cried out into the nothingness. While his species are renowned for their resilience, this agony threatened to overwhelm him. He came closer to the light, now vast and blinding. His spark screaming to meet it.

He hears the sound of a familiar voice. "Aegis? Aegis?"

A sharp gasp of terror escapes him as he awakens. Korra, Bolin, and Opal dashed away from their frightened companion. Every system rushes back to life, fervently searching for anything that could do him harm. He transforms on instinct smacking his emerging head on the shorter ceiling with a resounding thud causing him to lose balance and fall on his posterior.

He looks at his companions while rubbing his head, "Ow."

A speaker from the intercom crackles to life with Asami on the other end. "Korra? What's going on down there? Everyone alright?"

Korra walks over to the intercom panel and presses the speaker button. "Everything is fine Asami. We just startled him. Though he did leave a dent in the ceiling." She could hear a relieved sigh on the other side.

"Wait..startled him?"

Aegis worked to ease Asami's' worry. "I am sorry for the outburst Miss Sato. I had a very vivid dream. It must be all the stress of recent events. I'm sure it won't happen again."

A moment of remained before the speaker came to life. "I'll make a note and have the engineers tend to that later. I'm just glad no one was hurt. And Aegis?"

"Yes, Miss Sato?"

"We're coming up on the survey area we chose. One moment," faint voices are heard among the static, "there are definite signs of drilling. I'm having us land. I'll see you guys outside."

Asami switches off the comm channel and turns to the pilot. "Miia find us a safe spot to put us down nearby and have everyone be on the lookout for anything out of the ordinary from the land and sky. I don't want to be surprised if the one responsible for this tried to make an appearance."

"Yes, ma'am."

Asami felt the ship descend as she makes her way to her private study. Opening the door she sees her desk at the end of the room overlooking the doorway. It was covered in the paperwork of both quarterly reports from her company, and messy scribbles of new designs for possible inventions just to name a few. The events in the last twenty-four hours have kept her from the usual work. She walks over to her private locker adjacent to the door, inputting twelve-nineteen-fourteen on the combination lock.

She retrieves her trusty electro-shock glove and its sister plain rubber-lined one. The belt, a recent and welcomed addition, contained items she felt were much needed from lock-picks and wire cutters to the sizable first aid kit held above her rump. She smiled to herself as she remembered Korra asking her if it is necessary to have so many things on her person. _Don't know, but you can never be too careful. _Checking through everything to make sure they were in proper working order she opens her compass revealing the photo of her and Korra in the spirit world.

She touches it affectionately, remembering their time together there. The breath-taking sights they saw. Her long bout of Phi-Sho against the legendary fire-bender, tea maker Iroh. Korra took a nap during the match, resting her head on Asami's lap.

_Everything was simple and perfect. I was helping Rebuilding Republic City, Korra was out doing her Avatar duties and we're dating, Mako's putting away criminals, and Bolin and Opal were spending more time together since he went with her on her assignments Now we have these two terrifying machines on our world. One has been kidnapping people and I can't trust the words of the other. I don't understand how Korra could trust him!_

Asami remembered the conversation she and Korra had last night. Her words trying to ease a worried soul. "Maybe she's right. Maybe I'm afraid of them, of **him **because they remind me of the one that killed my father. I felt so powerless to save him." She snaps the compass shut. "But that was then, this is now. I'm not losing Korra or anyone else." Filled with determination she strides out of the room ready to tackle whatever challenges that lay ahead.

Being an earth bender Bolin always preferred to be on the ground, but the feeling of being on something that flew in the sky has always excited him. Although he could live without the parts where his stomach decides to do back-flips inside. A soft thud and change of the cargo bay door light from red to green telling everyone that the ship had landed and it's safe to leave. A simple flip of a switch and lever pull opens the door, revealing their new surroundings.

The mid-morning sun slowly warms the open landscape beyond the open door. Bolin is the first to step out and welcome the day. "Ahh, good old solid earth." He stretches his legs by bending a sizable rock near the ramp out of Aegis' way as he drives down the opposite side of the others as they walk down, keeping to the left. He breathes in the still freshly cool air and takes in the environment.

Before him was a vast, open stretch of bare land. Looking left he sees the grasslands steadily begin to dominate the landscape with a forest looming far in the distance. The sounds of Opal calling him draws his attention. "Bolin! Come take a look at this." Following the sound of her voice, Bolin rounds the cargo bay doors to see what she meant. It was the beginning of a mountain range that stretched into the distance. The stark contrast of a giant hole in the stone mountain caught his eye. At twenty meters in diameter, it was easily big enough for Aegis to walk into with plenty of room to spare. He quickly jogs over to join his friends and Aegis who had gathered there.

Aegis had already changed form and was keeping a lookout while the others were crouched, looking for something in the tracks that led into the drilled tunnel. He jogs over to Asami, staying out of her light."What are you guys looking for?"

"Every track has a serial number imprinted on them production. We use them to keep inventory. If we can identify the tracks numbers from the list of items stolen then we can say for certain that this wasn't mined by Kuvira's people."

Bolin joined in on the search though it was short-lived as Mako called out that he had found the numbers. Asami's examination confirmed that these tracks were indeed the ones that were recently stolen.

"So this was where she made her base," Aegis remarked as he looked on into the tunnel. "Time to find out what you've been up to." The krew follow Aegis into the tunnel as he took the lead.

Opal openly remarks, "This tunnel looks so smooth and white. I thought it would be a darker color inside. How did it get like this?"

Asami answered, "The crew on the tunnel boreing machine bend rebar then place concrete on top of it to harden as they drilled through. It makes the tunnel very stable."

As they made their way deeper into the mountain, the light from the sun at the entrance faded. Korra and Mako produce a small flame from the palm of their hand, lighting the area. Asami brings out three flashlights from her duffle bag and hands two to Bolin and Opal.

"None of you can see in the dark?", Aegis asked.

"We could if we were outside and there was moonlight to brighten things. Not so much in complete darkness." Korra replied. They continue on a little further until they come to a point where their singular tunnel branched out into two separate passages. The main tunnel they have been traversing continues on, but another goes off to the right. They had come to an impasse.

****After looking down both tunnels' dark passage Opal broke the silence. "So, which way?"

"I hate to say it, but I think that we should split up," Makoreluctantly suggested.

Aegis agreed. "That would be wise." He looked down the offshoot tunnel. "I think I will continue on while the rest of you check out the other tunnel."

"Oh no you don't," Opal spoke out. "What if you find something you can't go into or pick up because it's too small?"

Aegis stammers for a response. "Well, uh. I guess it would be best for someone to come with me."

Opal smiles at Aegis' answer to her question. "Then Bolin and I will go with you." She heads down their tunnel, Bolin following along beside her. Aegis shrugs over the sudden develop and lumbers after them. 


	16. Fissioned Worries

"You guys be careful!" Korra shouts after them. She hears a faint "We will!" from Opal. Korra's group continued their travels down their own tunnel. The combination of flame and artificial light piercing the darkness in the distance, making it seem the tunnel could go on forever.

"She seems rather friendly to him," Asami remarked.

"She's an airbender," Korra replied. "They're taught to seek harmony and peace with everyone. Besides since when does anyone get a chance to talk to a real alien." Mako's voice cut in before Asami could reply.

"Guys. There's something up ahead."

The tunnel they walked in opened into a large cavern. Shining her light forward, Asami reveals a building a dozen meters away.

"Ok. Did not expect a creepy, secret underground complex." Korra spoke with a hint of nervousness.

Asami gently pats her girlfriend on the shoulder. "Just think of it like that haunted house we visited a few months back." Korra glares at her.

"Har har har." She mocked. "Let's go join Mako." Their firebending friend had already gone ahead while they stopped to chat.

****Aegis, Bolin, and Opal had come upon the tunnel bore machine sometime after walking down their tunnel. The enormous machine sat dormant, covered in dust. The tunnel had doubled its width allowing the trio to travel down the length of the machine. The front of it beyond their sight.

Bolin noted, "It looks like it hasn't been used in a long while."

Aegis made a scan of the machine as they walked on. "You are right. It hasn't been in operation for approximately one month. Does that mean Stratus found what she was looking for?"

Opal's eyes widen in shock. "If she did, what about those people she kidnapped? We have to find them."

****"We'll go inside and see if any of the people are in there." Bolin and Opal run off to climb a ladder leading to a catwalk that will take them inside the machine.

"I will see if I can find anyone out here," Aegis spoke as he saw them off.

****They run through the dark corridors of the machine, searching for any sign of survivors. The echoing sounds of their footsteps filling the passageways. Their hall splits into two paths ahead with Bolin choosing to go left, leaving Opal the only other alternative. Traveling on his path Bolin came across a room that caught his attention. Walking inside he sees numerous rocks on a table all varying in size, everywhere was covered in dust. Normally he would've passed something like this, but he felt something strange coming from the rocks. He bends the largest one to him for a closer look.

****Korra, Asami, and Mako make way through the facility, finding motionless conveyor belts still littered with rock; cold, dead smelters; and assembly lines frozen in time. Asami had guessed that this place is a processing plant for ore along with manufacturing equipment. Seeing how vast the area was they decided to fan out to cover more ground. Asami's' search had her come upon a room filled with blackboards, charts, and tables covered in blueprints. Searching through the room she came upon a rather large scroll. "Now what are you?" She unfurls it revealing a device that would be massive in scale. Her gut told her that this held something of importance. Near the bottom right-hand corner, she notices a hastily scribbled note with an arrow pointing to a component.

****"This definitely looks like a radio signal frequency, but why was this written here?" She ponders over her find. "Better take it with me to look at later." She rolls up and pockets the blueprint in her bag.

****Korra's search had led her to her own room. Though to her, it wasn't much of note aside from the strange-looking visors in various stages of assembly. Their incredibly small electrical components littered the area. "What in the world are these?" She grabs, what she thinks to be a finished pair and tries them. "Huh? I can't see a darn thing with these on. Why would anyone bother to make glasses you can't use?" She takes off the visor ready to leave it where she found, but stopped after a moment's thought. "Maybe Asami would like to look at these. She does love to tinker." She takes a few for her girlfriend and leaves the room to search elsewhere.

****Makos' search had led him to a room with the walls lined with half-open lockers. With the warm light from his hand lighting his path he could see, aside from some strange heavy outfits within some of the lockers, that everything was covered in the same odd dust that was in the halls. His progress to the next room was temporarily impeded by a set of sealed steel doors. _I wonder what's behind door number one. _He wills an intense orange flame to his fingers and cuts through the hinges, using a swift kick to open the way forward. A pungent odor assaults his sinuses upon stepping in.

Inside the new room was a massive mechanical maze. A dazzling array of long-dead machines connected by a seemingly endless number of conveyor belts fed the maws of each machine. Journeying through the maze he notices that they are all making something from the rocks and turning it into yellow dust. He takes a closer look at this substance only to turn away from its smell. "Ugh, that is disgusting. Who knew rocks could make a foul smell." He steps away to continue his search, but without warning, he becomes lightheaded and nearly topples over. He grabbed ahold of nearby equipment to steady himself.

_What the heck was that? _He shakes his head, trying to regain his balance. _I better get a move on and see where this ends. _Making his way to the end of the long line of machinery he spots the result of their efforts. A number of thin, chipped metal wafers lay scattered on the floor. All of them in various states of, what he assumes to be, incompleteness due to their horrid condition.

While examining the wafers Makos' vision blurs. He backs away clutching his stomach as nausea grips him. He feels the strange weakness in his body spreading. He races back to whence he came. Nausea intensifying as he went. "Something is not right. I..I've got to find the others and get everyone out." He runs past the machine filled room as best as his increasingly tired legs could carry him and reaches the doors where he started his search, only for fatigue to finally overwhelm him. His last thoughts as he went unconscious were of his friends and Bolin.

****Opals'search had led further and further down the length of the insides of the tunnel drill. Her gut feeling was telling her that she might find something at the front. She spots the directional sign that read, **Drill Control**.

"Now we're getting somewhere." She jogs down the pointed direction, her footsteps echoing into the dormant machine. Her flashlight revealed the drill control station, dust-covered panels with numerous buttons, switches, and gauges were everywhere she looked. Pressing forward she exists through the other doorway that led further on. Cautiously walking forward she shines her light onto the enormous circular drill and its inner mechanisms. The smell of motor oil was still heavy in the air in this cathedral of metal. She spots a set of stairs ahead that led down into darkness. On a hunch, she decides to take the path.

Climbing down a ladder that led beneath the machine, Opal finds a concealed cavern blocked by the drill itself. "They must have backed up at some point. But why?" Shining her light to the roof showed they were uneven, bare rock not like the walls that lead into this cavern. She brings her light to the ground to find anything of interest.

A horrific gasp escapes Opal's lips upon seeing the horrific sight. Dozens of skeletons covered the ground at the end of the tunnel. "Oh, my spirits." She kneels and prays for these poor souls that they may find peace in the afterlife. Rising up she looks over the skeletal remains and notices the ground was littered with strange-looking visors. Some of them were still latched onto their skulls. Before she could pick one up to examine it her radio crackled to life.

"Opal?!" It was Asami, her voice frantic and worried. "If you are listening to this we found Mako unconscious. Korra is carrying him and we are making our way out of here. Go find Bolin and meet up with us. Whatever they were digging for is not safe for human life. Go find him, now!" Opal climbs back up the ladder and runs off to find her boyfriend, shouting his name and hoping he is alright.

****Aegis props himself against the tunnel to keep from falling. The same tiredness he felt on Asami's' ship came upon him again. He pinches his brow in frustration. "Ugh. What the hell is that matter with me? Why am I always so weary?"

He shakes his head to rid himself of the fatigue and focused on his search. _Hopefully, the others are actually finding something important. There's so little area for me to look through. _He decided to head back to the crossroad where Korra, Mako, and Asami had gone down the other tunnel thinking they might have overlooked something. "It probably won't do any good, but I better see if a scan can find anything here." His scanning visor recedes over his optics, overlaying his vision with sensor data readings ranging from humidity and temperature to the material composition of the environment or a highlight showing that the wall at the intersection near the tunnel being off tilt by ten degrees.

The last reading made him give a double-take. "What the? How did this happen?"He approached the highlighted section and ran his hands over the surface, trying to feel for anything out of the ordinary. "Hmm, maybe if I.." With a quick scan to make sure the roof wouldn't collapse he forces his fingers into the cemented wall feeling for the rebar. He finds the rods and coils his fingers around them gaining a solid grip and slowly pulls. The wall gives just as it was indicated by the visor. Pulling out the false wall and setting it down revealed a smooth dull gray surface behind it. "What the? It's just one thing after another." His scanner quickly determined the new wall to be made entirely of lead. "Hmm."Aegis lightly flicks the metal wall. The scanner picks up the vibrations and determines that the wall is actually a large hollow cube. Even more important there were many humans inside of it.

He retracts the scanner back into its housing. "The kidnapped people! They must've made this shelter for themselves to hide away in. Clever." A moment of hesitation strikes Aegis. "Wait a minute. Why would they use lead? They could've just molded the rock in the mountain itself. Surely that would've been easier. Unless.."The realization filled him with dread. "Oh no." His internal communications system picked up a radio signal.

"Opal?! If you are listening to this we found Mako unconscious. Korra is carrying him and we are making our way out of here. Go find Bolin and meet up with us. Whatever they were digging for is not safe for human life. Go find him, now!"

Asami's words confirmed Aegis' fears. "Stratus, what have you done?" Knowing the crew in the cube would be safe for the time being. Aegis runs down the tunnel to retrieve Opal and Bolin.

****Sweat soaks into Opals' shirt as she and Bolin slowly walk their way out of the tunnel boring machine. She had found him barely outside a dusty room with tables covered in rocks. At first, she supported him with his arm over her shoulders as he could barely walk. But now they were supporting each other as they haphazardly worked through their way through the labyrinthine machine.

"You doing alright sweetie?" She asked hoping to take their minds off the situation.

His head hanged low. "Hanging in their my dumpling," he weakly replied. "What about you?"

"Me? Oh, never better." In truth, she felt weak and tired beyond reason, but Bolin looked pale. _We need to get out of here_, she thought. Looking ahead she sees a thin veil of light shining a mere dozen paces away. "Finally! We're almost out of here Bolin, just hang on." Shuffling their way to freedom Opal felt her legs grow heavy from their burden and threaten to give way. _No, not now. Not when we are so close._

The ground shakes slightly at first, then quicker and louder as though they were the sound of thundering footsteps coming ever closer. Opal realizes that only two people could make this much noise and she was with Asami. "Aegis!" She cries. "Aegis!"

The wall beside them is suddenly torn away, rocking the machine. Opal and Bolin fall over into waiting metal hands. "I gotcha. Just hang on a bit longer. We're getting out of here." His thundering steps fade away as Opal loses consciousness.

****Aegis races through the tunnel carefully cupping his hands to keep Bolin and Opal safe from falling out or jostling them too much. _Damnit, Stratus. DAMN IT!! Why in the name of Primus have you gone and built that?!_"Ugh. I can't think about her right now. Gotta find the others and figure out a way to treat them." He makes his way to the crossroad and sees a welcomed sight emerging from the adjacent tunnel at a full run. "Korra!"He sees she is carrying Asami over her left shoulder while Mako is slung over her forearm. Both of them come to a stop.

"Aegis what's wrong them? Mako is out cold, Asami is barely staying conscious, and I'm feeling like I have the flu." He kneels and presents his cupped hands to her. "Get on. They have radiation sickness. We need to get out of here and get everyone cleaned."Korra follows his command and Aegis charges towards the tunnel exit.

The light of the early afternoon sun greeted the group as they make their way outside. Korra looked up to Aegis, "What do we do to clean them? A special chemical or.?"

"Water." He interrupts looking around the area. "Lots of flowing water, but I don't see any."

Korra leaped out of his hands and bends the air to soften her landing. The flowing air felt cool against her sweat covered, fevered skin. She centers herself and reaches out to feel for any source of water she could use. With nothing immediate, she pushes herself to reach out as far as she could. Then, at the very edge, she felt it. The flowing water deep below. She takes hold and brings it to the surface. The new spring bursting from the hard soil to coat the earth in its life-sustaining splendor. Korra created a wide trench for the new river to flow through. She felt weakened by the effort but ignored her bodies' complaints. "What's next?'

He kneels down presenting her love and friends to her. "They need to have these loose things removed and then a good scrub while submerged in the water to clean them."

She follows through, quickly disrobing them down to their undergarments and placing them in the still river one by one. Aegis had gone back into the mine telling her that there are survivors. She followed his instructions to clean them thoroughly of the dust from the mine, swirling the water around their bodies. She could feel that they were in utter turmoil. There was something lingering in them, something she never felt before. "Must be this is the radiation Aegis was talking about." Korra focused her chi into the water, leeching away the sickness that plagued them recalling the techniques from her own experience and the teachings of the Waterbending Master Katara. Korra takes each of them out of the water after their treatment was complete. She could feel her fever getting worse, but she pressed on, determined to take care of others before herself. With the last one treated and carried behind the wall she erected to give them privacy she could tend to herself.

She steps into the cool water. "Physician heal thyself." She disrobed her garments and stepped into the water, slowly pulling it over her body and infusing it with her chi. Its cool touch caused her heated skin to shiver. She could already feel her fever subsiding and her strength returning. She lay still to let the healing process run its course and relax for the moment. The thundering footsteps of Aegisquickly snapped her out of the tranquil state to quickly re-dress herself.

****Turning to look Korra could see he was carefully carrying an enormous gray metal cube. "The survivors are in here," he says in that oddly organic, mechanical voice. She tears open one of the metal walls revealing the insides to contain dozens of emaciated occupants. The horrible stench from within made her vomit in her mouth before forcing it back down. _Geta hold of yourself Korra these people need your help._

She gently takes them one by one to the still waters. Their number quickly forming a long line of sickly bodies. She noticed Aegis had retreated away from her while she brought out the now freed people. _He probably doesn't want to startle them. I doubt they would welcome the sight of another metal giant_. With the last victim in the water, Korra once more bends it to slowly caress their weary bodies and infuse her chi to begin healing them.

As light groan escapes Asami's lips as she comes to. The first thing she noticed was the sunlight warming her skin. "I'm outside? How?"The last thing she remembered was finding Mako and breathing in a puff of dust. She felt incredibly dizzy the moment she inhaled it. "I must have passed out." She slowly sits up only to realize she was wearing only her undergarments. Quickly covering herself she looks for her clothes only to see she was among her friends Bolin, Mako, and Opal. Asami noticed there was a freestanding wall behind them providing a measure of privacy. After checking on her friends and seeing they were merely unconscious Asami peeked out from behind the wall to see what was beyond it.

"Ah, you are awake."

Asami jumped in fright and quickly turns to face Aegis who was looking at her while kneeling. She breathes a sigh of relief though quickly covers herself. "Spirits Aegis! You scared me half to death."

"Sorry about that. I am trying to keep quiet and out of sight. I found survivors and I don't think it would be good for them to see me in their current condition."

"Speaking of current condition, could you, uh, look away from me and the others. I don't know if your people wear clothing, but right now I and my friends are not decent."

She sees Aegis look clearly confused about her request, but he looks away nonetheless. "Do you know where Korra is?" she asks.

"She is tending to the survivors. I have radioed for your ship. It should be here any moment."

Asami pokes her head out from behind the wall to see the long row of bodies her girlfriend was using her water bending techniques on. The water glowed a cool azure as she moved. She called out to the Avatar. "Korra. You holding up ok honey?"

"A little tired, but I'll be fine. These people are going to need long-term care. The damage is far worse in them."

Asami thinks over how to best manage the situation. "My ship doesn't have enough room to hold that many people and we still need to figure out what Stratus was doing here. Can we treat these people and still go after her?" The engineers' mind had found a solution. She leans back against the wall looking towards their metal compatriot. "Aegis? I need you to radio Miia so I can speak to her and after that can you radio Suyin, I can give you the frequency."

"Of course." Aegis tunes into the radio frequency used by the airship for Asami to issue her orders. The rest of the krew awakened to the sounds of the airship's engines loomed over them as it came in for a close landing. 


	17. Willful Ignorance

They sat at the dinner table quietly eating a small afternoon meal after they add re-dressed themselves. The tone of the room was that of deep contemplation over the events of the last few hours. The sounds of the numerous medical personnel running and moving their equipment in the bowels of the ship had ceased some time ago. Asami had the entire medical staff and the needed supplies stay behind to tend to the kidnap victims until Suyin could deliver them to the hospital inZaofu. The silence was broken by Asami as she entered through the double doors. On one hand, was her duffle bag and in the other a half-eaten candy bar.

Korra and Mako look at each other both knowing the same thing. Asami only ate candy when she was very stressed over a project that continued to defy any solution she could come up with, which was a very rare thing to see. The group watched on as she deposited the contents of the bag, a large blueprint and a few of the strange visors that were taken with them. She stands there looking over the items she had placed, slowly chewing on her candy bar.

"Having trouble with something honey?", Korra asked.

Asami briefly looks at her girlfriend, her thoughts still on solving the problem that plagued her. "I can't make heads or tails of these weird-looking visors. You can't see a darn thing with them and they have this odd circuitry connected to thin metal plates placed on the temples of whoever wears them." She sets them aside. "I'll look at them later. This blueprint, however, is very intriguing." She unfurls the thick paper weighing down the corners with fruit from the fruit bowl to keep it from curling back up.

"The device is strange and complex. I have little idea as to what it does." She points to a sketch on the blueprint, "You can see here that it's going to be quite large, at least three meters tall and two meters in diameter." She points to another, "Here are several components that I know of, namely this radio transmitter and receiver which someone drew an arrow from to a series of numbers, but I have never seen these ones before."

Bolin wanted to quell a worry that had lingered since their escape from the mine and momentarily changed the subject. "Are the people that Aegis rescued going to be alright?"

Still looking over the blueprint Asami replied, "Yes. The doctors say they are lucky to be alive. Any longer and it would've been too late to save them. They will tend to them while they wait for Suyin to come and take them to Zaofu. We could do it, but that would take too much time."

A sigh of relief escaped Opal. "That is good to hear. I was worried about them. If all of us got sick so quickly I can't imagine how they must feel."

"I would like to know what caused us to collapse so easily," Mako quietly stated. "That was, terrifying really."

Asami shook her head in agreement. "I wish I knew. It definitely has to do with that strange ore that was being processed."

A quick burst of low static is heard as the intercom for the room was activated. "I believe I can explain what occurred in the mine." It was Aegis.

"You know what Stratus was looking for?", Korra asked.

"I had my suspicions, but I wasn't sure, even while in the mine, until Asami made her emergency radio call to Opal and Bolin."

"So what is it?", Mako asked. "What did she find?"

An audible sigh is heard. "The ore Stratus found is called uraninite. It contains a metallic element called Uranium, specifically Uranium-235. It is a radioactive element that contains immense amounts of untapped energy. The blueprints Asami found are plans for building a bomb, a thermonuclear bomb."

The room is silent as everyone looked at each other in shock and confusion. The information still sinking in. Asami asks, "Is the uranium the catalyst for the bomb."

"Unfortunately yes. Normally if it were any other type it would require further refinement before it can be used, but the 235 type is ready to go after processing."

Opal injects, "How come Zaofu or any of the Earth territories never discovered it while we were digging around?"

"Uranium is relatively rare on most planets, U-235 is rarer still. However, in her long years of service Stratus gained many skills, one of which is a munitions expert. She knows how to build a bomb, but she needed your technology, scientists, and workers to find it."

****"How does it work?", Asami asked in her most deadpan manner.

"I..I am sorry, but I can't tell you."

"What? Why the hell not?", Asami cried.

"Based on your civilization's technological level you shouldn't have discovered this element for the next thirty years."

"That doesn't matter anymore!" She retorts. "The bomb is being built or maybe even has already been built."

Aegis' voice takes on a sterner demeanor. "You are not ready! This weapon has the ability to completely erase any city on your world within the blink of an optic. It will leave the land uninhabitable for hundreds of years. Even worse, if there are high winds that day they will carry the fallout over whatever lands they go. The deadly dust would leave your food and water too toxic to consume and you would die from inhaling the very air they breathe. Can you honestly say your people are ready to handle this kind of power?"

Asami attempts a reply, but stays her tongue. She remembers how technology has been wrongly used in the past for selfish, destructive gains. _Maybe he has a point..._

Korra decided a different approach was needed. "We don't need to know how it works. We just need to know how to stop the bomb from going off?"

"If you can remove a piece of the ignition system it will be rendered useless, but great care must be taken while doing so. I imagine the instruments will be sensitive."

"Okay, that is something we can use." She looks to her girlfriend warmth in her eyes. "Asami? Think you can find this "ignition thing" and figure out a way to remove it?"

The engineer gave a nod. "I, I should be able to with this blueprint. I just need time to look it over."

"Well, right now you'll have plenty. We still need to find her first, "Mako states. "Anyone have an idea how to do that?"

"I think that is where this odd radio frequency comes in. My guess is that the bomb has a transmitter and receiver. If I can modify the radio equipment we have here on the ship to search on this higher frequency I should be able to find it using triangulation." She grabs the blueprints and visors from the table. "I'll be in my study." She hurriedly walks out of the conference room.

****"It's a bit odd that those blueprints got left behind don't you think?"Bolin asked aloud. "You figured something like that would've been burned."

Opal added another view on the matter, "Maybe they were left there on purpose like a last-ditch effort in the hopes that this will be stopped."

Aegis, still listening through the intercom, says, "They had no way of knowing that would've been a remote possibility."

Opal, with a bit of smug, says, "They have Korra."

_Speaking of which, _"Avatar, could you come down to the cargo bay? I wish to speak to you in private."

Korra looked at her friends and gave a slight shrug. She makes her way down through the ship to reach Aegis. "What did you want to talk about?" She asks while sliding down the ladder.

"I must urgently request that you have the facility destroyed and buried. No one on this planet must learn of the technology that has been left there. It is simply too dangerous."

"How can you be so sure? We might actually be ready for whatever might come of this."

"You would be ready if you found it at your own pace. Stratus jump-started that timeline of progression."

Korra sighed, she was at odds over what needed to be done. She saw the merits of both sides. "Can this uranium be used for something else, something peaceful?"

"Well, yes it can be used as a source of power to generate electricity, but at a cost. The process results in toxic waste that will remain dangerous to life for thousands of years. Properly storing it is difficult and costly because it needs to be monitored for any signs of leakage. It is a cost that I find you are not yet ready to handle."

****"I'm gonna need a better answer than that." She replied. "Why are you pushing this?" She hears a frustrated groan from the vehicle.

"It is part of our rules Avatar. No cybertronian will give technology or information to a race of a lower technological level. Stratus has broken that rule, contaminating your world."

****"You have this rule because you are travelers?" she asked.

"No its because my people on Cybertron, my true homeworld, are at war. A war that has gone on for millions of years. The people I am with are among those that left before it happened, to avoid it. Soon the war spread to countless other worlds. Many of them now lay in ruin due to being given technology ahead of their time and they destroyed themselves because they were not ready. So I ask you again. Please." She could hear the desperation in his words. "This site must be destroyed."

****"Korra? Are you there?" It was Miia on the intercom. Korra walked over to the device and presses the speaker button. "I'm here. What's up?"

"Suyin is on the line. She wants to have a word with you."

"Alright. Put her through to the cargo bay intercom." A series of static clicks sound off until a voice is heard. "Korra?" The youthful voice that belied someone with age rang through the speaker. "Hey there Suyin, I want to say thank you for coming all this way. We didn't want to leave them behind, but we couldn't take them with us."

"I understand and you needn't worry about them. I am just glad you were able to find them. We are going as fast as we can. We should arrive there in a few hours, then we can take them to the hospitals inZaofu. I have them preparing for our arrival as we speak."

"Actually", Korra interrupted, "Aegis was the one who found them. In fact he was the one who told me how to treat them." A sound of amazement came over the line. "Really? Well, it was a good thing he went with you then. Please tell him that I am grateful for his efforts."

Korra briefly hesitates for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to break the news to her. "Suyin I, you need to send some of your people into the mine. They will come to a fork with a tunnel going to the right. They need to ignore that and keep going forward. Soon enough they will come to a tunnel boring machine. Have them get inside and head to the front. There are bodies. We think they are the remains of the workers that were captured at the beginning. You will need to work fast to avoid becoming ill like we did."Korra could only imagine what she was feeling at this moment. The benders that were captured were people she personally sent to help with the restoration of Republic City. "I am so sorry Suyin."

"It's not your fault Korra, but I thank you." Korra could hear over the line that Suyin was struggling to not weep. "I will have them collected and identified so their loved ones can bury them. Just make sure you stop Stratus."

"We will. Oh, there is one other thing." "Yes, Korra?" The Avatarglances over to Aegis thinking on the next words she will speak. "I think it would be best of the entire mine was collapsed and everything in there left to be forgotten. Whatever is in there, we aren't ready for it yet."

"I understand. I'll personally see that it is done. Good luck Korra." A click is heard on the speakers and the line goes silent.

"Thank you Avatar. I know it must not have been easy."

She walks over to the ladder to head back to the conference room. "No, telling Suyin to destroy that place was easy. Telling her that we failed to save everyone was the hard part. We'll let you know when we find Stratus." She makes her way to the top of the ladder, taking a moment to look at Aegis before proceeding on.

Just as Korra entered the conference room the airship quickly rises and set off, startling the krew. Asami arrived soon after, carrying a large device in their arms. "Sorry about the sudden flight." She sets it on the table with a hard thud for a breather. The device was opened showing its bare electronic vacuum tubes, wires, and held together with duct tape. Sticky notes were everywhere there was room to spare, each of them with either a label, directions for use, or warnings. "I finally got this thing to work and it is picking up a signal that is moving really fast, so it's going to be a bit of a rush to catch up."

She looks to Korra with pleading eyes. "Sweetie would you be a dear?" she said in the most innocent tone she could muster. TheAvatar smirked at her girlfriends' actions. "Sure." She walks over and picks up the hefty device with ease. "Where to?"

"Oh to the bridge, on the table to the right of Miia." The krew followed after the two. Korra gently sets it down, Asami quickly placing herself in front of the machine already putting on the headphones and tweaking the dials. She pulls out a small notepad and quickly makes a few scribbles of calculations on it then rips the paper out and passes it off to Miia. With a quick read, the ship makes a hard left and pulls the speed gauge to full.

The airship flies on at full speed. The landscape swiftly passing away under them. Asami spoke while still tending to her device, "I need everyone to keep a lookout for something moving at high speeds. The signal is getting stronger, so we must be catching up." The krew spread out on the bridge looking out the large windows for anything out of the ordinary.

The young airbender looks into the distance her olive-green eyes scanning the horizon for whatever might be out of place. She noticed something glinting in the distance. Its shape becoming more distinct as the airship drew closer. "I see train tracks." She points ahead so the others could see.

Mako looked over a map of the area that he brought up with him. "These tracks aren't marked on here.. they must have been recently made."

"They could've been built by Stratus' captives," Opal remarked. "The manifest did show they stole a lot of metal."

"The signal is coming from something up ahead." Asami replaces the headphones onto the desk. "Follow those tracks."

The airship follows the trail of the mysterious tracks. Everyone on the bridge sees what the tracks carry. Three trains, each of them similar in the number of cars attached to them, but the latter two are crude in appearance from the first in line with rust and discoloration. As though they were half-finished in the forging. All of them were speeding along in unison. Korra asks, "Those are freight trains and if these tracks aren't on the map. Where are they going?"

Opaltrails the tracks beyond the trains and makes a discovery. "The tracks branch off into three separate directions. Are there any other tracks near here?"

Mako looks over the map. "Yeah," His voice grew grim. "They are heading for Ba Sing Se."

"What?! Why Ba Sing Se?" His brother asked.

Mako slaps his forehead with his palm. "They must be heading for the meeting!" Everyone looked at him with confusion. "There is going to be a secret meeting of all the leaders of the separate Earthterritories. They are coming together to, hopefully, sign an agreement to make a democratic multi-state nation and it happens today. They were worried about sabotage and kept everything hush-hush."

"Miss Sato," Miia called out, "our radio operator just received a transmission from the medical team. The miners' condition is worsening and Suyin's people won't make it in time. They are requesting the airship be brought back to meet them halfway." Everyone on the bridge grew silent. An air of uncertainty and worry hung over them.

Korra spoke. "How fast are these freight trains?" Asami responds saying, "I did a quick calculation while everyone was looking at the map. They are at one hundred and fifty-five kilometers per hour, so they must be close to a class six train which should make their top speed around one hundred and seventy-seven."

Korra ran over to the intercom and presses the button for the cargo bay speakers. "Hey Aegis, do think you can beat a train going at one hundred and seventy-seven kilometers per hour?"

"On straight, paved roads yes. I am uncertain about anything else, but I can try. Why do you ask?"

"I'll fill you in when we get down there." Korra snaps her fingers. "I have a plan. We are going to get to Aegis and drive after the trains. Miia will fly back to the medics and get those patients to Suyin."

Asami is in disbelief asking, "Just how do you expect us to get off a speeding airship. We can't slow down or they'll get further away."

Korra innocently mumbles, "Well we'll just you know.. dropdown." She gives that good old weak smile. Asami has the blankest face of disappointment ever. "Or I and Opal could airbend us down safely?"

"I can work with that."

The group head to the cargo room. Asami arriving shortly after carrying her duffle bag and sat in the driver's seat with Korra in the front passenger seat and Opal, Mako, and Bolin in the back seats. Korra asks Aegis to radio Miia quickly explaining to her what she needed todo. 


	18. Explosive Runaway

The airship cautiously lowers itself a few meters from the ground and the cargo bay doors open. Red warning lights and siren blaring in the hold. "You ready Opal?", Korra asked the airbender.

"Ready when you are," she replied. "Miia we are heading out."

The radio crackles with Miia on the other end. "We'll try to get back to you as soon as possible. Good luck." Aegis releases his brakes and slips out of the cargo hold backward, falling to the ground. Korra and Opal reach out with their arms on their respective sides and bend the air out of their palms into a fierce jet below them. They replace their arms before landing, Aegis almost swerving out of control trying to maintain his current speed. Regaining his footingAegis speeds after the trains, while the airship flew off to save the critical patients.

Despite Aegis' best efforts the trains slowly, but steadily gain distance on them. Asami could see the trains farther away. She looks at the dash asking, "What's wrong Aegis? They are getting away."

Aegis replies, strain clear in his voice, "I am unfamiliar with driving on this terrain. I can't seem to get enough traction."

"We have to catch up with them before they split up," Bolin says.

"I know that!" Aegis replied clearly frustrated, "If we had a driver that is more accustomed to this I would consider letting them take the wheel."

"I could drive on this no problem," Asami states, "but we would need my car for that."

"I might have a solution then, "Aegis replied. "My people have the ability to modify their vehicle forms if another matches our current one in terms of the basic shape."

Opal asks, "You can do that?"

"I did scan Miss Sato's vehicle, so I can replicate most of its features. The feel of it should be similar enough." Korra could hear the discomfort in Aegis' voice. "While I don't like the idea of someone controlling me, but we have no other options."

"Just so you know driving and changing alt modes at the same time is not ideal, but here goes nothing." Metallic noises could be heard from within. The krew nearly leap out of their seats in surprise as soft leather scrolls out from the head of their seats rolling down, covering its hard surface. The control armrest opens and slides forward revealing it to be a manual gearshift interface with its stick rising from the first gear. The flat dashboard flexes becoming rounder, it's metal facing sinks inward by a small, but noticeable depth. Blue numbers appear on its surface noting the speed, rpm, and direction. A steering column pops up followed by two steering sticks that flip up into position. The wheel forms with the rings expanding outwards from the sticks.

Asami asks in astonishment, "This is amazing! Did you copy the wheels too?" A clunking noise from outside is heard. Everyone could feel as the whole vehicle slightly rose up in height.

"Done. Take the wheel, Miss Sato."Asami follows Aegis's heed and takes control. Quickly getting a feel for the power of his engine and the grip of his tires on the dirt road, she kicks it into second gear and they race off to catch-up with the trains.

Under Asami's care the krew rapidly catch up, but they had another problem that was caught by Korra. "We're getting closer to the divergence point," she says. She places her hand on her girlfriend's shoulder." Get us in close and we can take them out."

"NO!" Aegis shouts from the console. "You must not do that!" Everyone looks at him in confusion. Mako asking, "Why not?"

"The trains must be brought to a gradual stop. If the bomb is on any of them a sudden jostle or smashing into anything might trigger it."

Korra thinks on a solution for a moment and says, "Then we'll have to separate and tackle each in pairs. Mako and Bolin, you two go for the first. Me and Opal on the second. Asami and Aegis for the third."

Aegis quickly scanned the freight trains ahead hoping to find something unique or out of place that others could use. He only finds another problem to slow them down. "You'll have to jump onto the last car of these trains. It's the only one that has anything to grab onto."

"Are you serious?" Bolin asks.

"I'm afraid so. The cars between the engine and the rear are just for show and are entirely smooth. Stratus must have considered the possibility of someone trying to stop her."

Asami closes in on the last car of their first freight train to board, carefully bringing them as close as possible for Mako and Bolin to jump. After slowly maneuvering themselves onto Aegis' roof the brothers looked at each other, clearly questioning the reality of the situation they find themselves in. Bolin is the first to make the leap, aiming for the railings and lands gut first into them. Despite the wind being knocked out of him, he successfully grabs onto the rail and hoists himself over onto the platform. Mako jumps after, his brother catching and helping him over. The others see them make their way over to the ladder and climb up to the roof of the car as they head for the next train.

****Asami increases their speed, reaching the second trains' cars. Aegis could see ahead that time was short. "I hate to rush you two, but we are nearing the separation point."

"They'll make it," Asami replied. She tightens her grip on the steering wheel and presses onward reaching the last car of the locomotive in short order.

Aegis watched as Opal and Korra climbed onto his roof and readied themselves for the leap. He could see that their jump was easier than the others as they used their airbending to create a momentary burst of air from their palms, guiding them for a soft landing. No sooner did they land the trains had reached their own separate tracks. Asami turned the wheel hard to the right to avoid smashing into their train as its track brought it perpendicular to their path. With the others dropped off they could focus on stopping their own train.

The brothers crouch low slowly walking their way to the locomotive. Mako is the first to reach it, crawling over the coal car he grabs hold of the open hooded ceiling and swings into the control room. Bolinquickly following suit. He looks at the myriad patchwork of buttons, switches, and levers that cover the panels. In the center of the room was the protruding hatch that covered the heart of the engine, a roaring fire. "So..," he nervously asks, "got any ideas on how this stuff works?"

Bolin looked over the controls. "They resemble the controls of the old trains we used shortly before modernizing. I think if we just put out the fire and pull the break here," he taps a red-tipped lever," this will stop."

****His brother says, "We'll need to cut the cars free first. We can't risk a sudden stop at full speed with them attached." Bolin levitates a few pieces of coal to himself. He crushes them together into a solid chunk, reaching into his core to draw out the heat he liquefies the chunk. He flattens and spreads it out into a deadly sharp, glowing shuriken and cuts the connectors, decoupling the cars from the locomotive. They quickly fall behind with the loss of their engine. Mako waits until the cars had grown small with the growing distance between them then pulls the brake lever and swiftly extinguishes the fire, killing the engine.

As the locomotive comes to a stop Bolin jumps off onto the track. Focusing his efforts on the earth beneath the tracks in front of the oncoming cars, he lava bends the earth heating it up into a soupy slurry. The cars slowly sink into the lava sailing closer to the brothers. Seeing that they have all fallen into the lava Bolin begins cooling the heated earth. They slide to a stop ten feet before Bolin, who lets out a sigh of relief and completely cools off the rocks. Seeing that they had stopped their train Mako couldn't help, but wonder how the others were handling theirs.

Korra and Opal had managed to reach the locomotive of their train. They waited for it to make the turn onto the new track before getting to work. Opal watches as Korra solidifies her stance and focus her efforts on the earth in the metal and slowly breaking the thick railway couplers apart, their pieces falling below. Seeing Korra had completed her task Opal kills the engine by snuffing out the fire with a gust of air.

With the cars sliding away from them Korra nods to Opal who pulls the brake for the locomotive at half strength. The wheels sparked against the tracks as they resist the forces to continue rolling. Korra could see the cars were catching up with the locomotive. "Ready?", she asks Opal. "Yup.", she responds. Remembering Aegis' warning she adds, "I'll go first, then you come in a bit stronger than me and we'll keep increasing our push till this stops." Opal pushes with a stream of air then Korra follows up as planned. They keep rotating out stronger and stronger streams till Opals' last burst forces the cars to recede. Korra reaches out and focuses on the brake handle for the cabled cars and pulls, slowly activating the brakes making the cars come to a complete stop. The two benders breathe out a collective sigh of relief. Korra's thoughts turned to the last train. _I wonder how Asami and Aegis are doing?_

"Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow." Aegis kept repeating as the two chased after the train. Their path had led them over exceptionally rocky terrain that constantly nicked his underside. "Sorry," Asami said as she tried to keep from hitting the larger bumps and rocks in their path, but she needed to get closer. "We're almost there, just a bit more."

_You're not the one who is being smacked by these blasted things!_

True to her word they closed in on the engine in mere moments. "Ok, here's the plan. I'm gonna need you to hold steady while I jump on. When I get in there I'm going to set the engine for reverse, try to work against the momentum that it has built up. I need you to get in front of this train and slowly apply resistance to it."

"Roger." She hears from the radio.

Asami unbuckles and opens the door. The drastic change in the environment momentarily catching her off guard. High winds swept her hair up as the roaring chugging of the locomotive dominates her ears. Aegisfeels her climb onto the roof. He holds steady as she readies herself to make the deadly leap. She waits for the right moment, visualizing herself making the jump onto the crude hand-railings. The world fades out of sight and sound from her. There is only the jump. An eternity seemingly passes before her mind screams out, _NOW, _does she make the leap.

"Oomph." She lands solidly on the handlebars knocking the wind out of her, but keeps a tight grip on them. She climbs over onto the connected platform and makes her way to the engines' cab. After a quick once over the consoles she pulls levers and flips switches in swift sequence. The screeching of metal on metal is heard as the wheels switch to reverse pulling against the push of the train. She looks out the window to see how her partner was fairing.

Seeing Asami safely place herself on the train Aegis presses on to get ahead. The bumps threaten to take control away and force him into the train or send him flying from it. "Easy Aegis. Nice and steady. You've got plenty of track left."He says to himself trying to calm his nerves. Bit by bit he gains on the locomotive until he has completely overtaken it. "Here goes nothing." He pushes the systems as hard as he can for more speed. The four-wheel hubs spread out from the body though still connected internally like an over-sized ATV. He pushes off with his wheels, jumping ahead of the train, transforming along the way and orienting himself so that he is face first with its smokebox and grabs on.

He goes spread eagle, keeping his legs outside of the metal tracks and the wheels out under his feet, letting the train pushing him along. His audio receptors pick up the screeching sound of metal grinding on metal. "Ahh, Asami must have hit the reverse on this thing. Better start on my part." He precariously lowers the front of his metal feet, digging into the rocky ground below with his wheels retracting back into his calf. His feet cut through the earth as it easily gives way, sending dirt waves away from the train. His metal body strains against the smokebox trying to keep himself from being pulled under. "GAH!", he cries. "Come on! Slowdown you piece of junk!" He could feel his arms threatening to give out as he hears more screeching from the wheels and to his elation, the train begins to slow.

"Almost there. Almost there." He repeats this mantra until he comes to a stop. He lets out a loud sigh, his weary limbs fall to his sides as he steps out of the dual trenches his feet had dug. Rounding the locomotive he sees Asamilooking out from the window of the cab.

"I'll take a look and see if the nuke is here. Try to contact the others."He activates his scanner and walks down the line of cars. The visor fervently searches for any high energy particles, but finds nothing when reaching the last car. _It must be shielded._ He switches the scanner to detect materials of significant density. He retraces his steps only to quickly find something in the third to last cargo train car. Retracting the visor he carefully slides open the doors.

Asami fiddles with the controls of the makeshift radio inside the cab. She had already re-wired the device so it would properly function, but now it was a matter of gingerly connecting the battery to power it. _Hopefully, this won't burn it out. These wires are in poor shape. _Wrapping the last wire around a node and making sure her work was secured she flips the switch to complete the circuit. She turns up the volume to hear the sought after result, static. "Yes!" she exclaims.

****She turns the dial to search for any signal that might be the radios of the others. "Let's hope their equipment is in better shape."Bringing the receiver up she calls out to her friends. "Opal?Korra? Mako? Bolin? Do you any of you hear me?" She hears something faint on the other end. "Hello? Asami? Is that you?" It was Mako! She fine-tunes what she can for a clearer signal. "I can barely hear you," she replies. "Were you able to stop your train?"

"We did. I was able to contact Korra and Opal. They are fine and have stopped their train as well. Asami sighed in relief. "Good. Aegis is checking out the cars over here. I would say wait for us, but that will take too long. You'll have to search for the cars one by one."

****"Agreed. I'll tell Korra and Opal, but what do we do if either one of us has the bomb? We can't just sit there and do nothing." Asami thinks over the possible actions they could do.

"If there hasn't been any indication that it's active, then wait for us. However, if you feel that it might be waiting to blow you could try removing the uranium. It will be somewhere inside the bomb though. You will have time to find since it should take a bit of time to prime itself before detonating, at least that is what I understood from the blueprint."

"Hmm, that can work," Mako remarked. "I'll contact Korra and Opal. Mako out." He switches over to their frequency. "Opal, do you readme?"

"Loud and clear. How are Asami and Aegis?"

"They are fine. They have stopped their train and Aegis is searching to see if they have the bomb. Asami advised us to do the same, but to not touch it unless we are given any indication that is going to explode."

"And if it does?"

"Then we will need to remove the uranium before it goes off. The bomb takes time to ready itself before exploding, but I'm guessing that won't be a lot. The question is how to remove it if that occurs."

"Ooh wait! Bolin said that it felt highly energetic right? And Aegis said it's made of metal. Korra would just have to feel for whatever matches that and pull it out." A moment of clarity through her solution brought Opal before another problem. "Wait, what about you two? My boyfriend can't bend metal! How will you disarm the bomb if it's with you?" The brothers worryingly look at each other. Bolin takes the microphone and says, "Hey don't worry about us we'll uh, wing it. Just like the old days."

****Aegis opened the sliding door of the cargo car. Inside was the object his scanner detected, a large gray metal container. Attached to it was a device that was emitting radio waves. "Hmm, it's made of lead. Clever. I wouldn't be able to detect the radiation through this." He lifts open the lid. "Empty?! But.. where?" The realization dawned on him. "A decoy. She meant for us to follow this, but why? And if we have the decoy what about the others?"Fear of what might happen spurs on his servos as he runs back to join Asami.

****"GAH!" Korra throws the lead lid into the wooden wall of the car. She turns back to Opal. "It's empty! A wild goose chase." Opal remained undeterred as theirs was one of three. "We need to get back to the radio and call Asami. Maybe her train has it." They form their air scooters and hastily make their way back to the cab.

"Shouldn't we wait for the others?", Bolin asked as they walk down the length of the train checking the cars as they go. "We could," his brother replied, "but if this thing can be remotely detonated we need to try and disable it."

"You mean that is if we have it." They slide open the doors to the next car's interior. Inside was a large wooden crate that matched the dimensions from the blueprint. An audible facepalm he heard from Bolin. "I just had to say something, didn't I?" Mako climbed into the car and began inspecting the container, his brother watching him nervously.

Korra and Opal climb back into the cab. Opal had reached the radio first and began trying to find Asami. "Asami? Can you hear me?" She turns a few more dials trying to tune into her radiofrequency. "Are you there Asami?" High pitched whines and tones are replaced by a faint voice that grew louder as she spoke.

"I hear you Opal. What happened? Did you find it?"

"We found a lead container with a radio receiver tapped on, but there was nothing inside it. What about your train?"

"Aegis came back a few minutes ago. He found the same thing."

Opals eyes go wide with realization, "That means Bolin and Mako's train has the real one?" They start shouting into the receiver for Mako and Bolin to respond.

"I don't think it's booby-trapped." Mako motions Bolin to climb in and the brothers slowly open the wooden container revealing another, this one made of metal. Mako lets out an annoyed sigh and after breaking apart the wooden crate resumes his inspection. Bolins' constant noise of gasps and shrieks was not helping the lieutenants' concentration.

****Bolin looked on as his brother investigates the metal case. Sweat beading down his brow. The dire thoughts of Mako tripping a trap or worse actually getting to the bomb before the others arrive. **Gulp. **_Deep breaths Bolin, deep breaths. You know your brother is smart, but not Asami smart, though he is a cop. He should know what he is doing. Right? _"Uh Mako, bro? Do you know what you are doing?"

His brother replied without looking at him, "Yes and no."

****Bolin felt his heart skip a beat. His brain refused to register his brother's response. "Can you run that by me again? I, I thought I heard you say yes and no."

"Yup, "Mako bluntly acknowledged. 


	19. Creative Acceleration

"What?"

"I don't know how to disarm the bomb, but I can at least set things up for Asami so when she gets here she can disarm it faster."

"That will be a relief."

"Unless it's wired to explode if I do that or if the timer is already counting down. We'll see soon."

"You are not making me feel better about this situation."

_The feeling is mutual bro. _Makoflips the latches lose and carefully opens the lead case.

Asami prematurely switches gears causing Aegis to yelp in pain. "OW! Be more careful! I'm not one of your machines you know."Asami says nothing, her concentration completely engulfed with trying to go faster and faster to reach them. They race across the open dirt plains towards the train Bolin and Mako had stopped.

Korra knows Asami is terrified for their safety, her being quiet being a clear sign. She looks at Opal to see her staring ahead completely tense with her hands clasped together. She suddenly shouts, "There it is!", pointing in the direction of the train. They arrive to see Bolin had spotted them, waving to them. Mako was leaning against an open cargo car with a scowl on his face.

Asami stops their approach and Opal jumps out, running to Bolin and tackling hugging him, relieved that he is safe. Korra and Asami pile out of Aegis who transforms and walks behind them.

"Just a transmitter?", Korra asks. Mako nods and slams his fist against the train car wall. Korra, Asami, and Mako clearly showing frustration.

Mako glares over at the happily reunited couple. "Could you two take this situation a bit more seriously?" Bolin looks at his brother clearly hurt before he could respond Opal cuts in.

"Excuse me? We are taking this seriously. Is it wrong that I worry about Bolin's safety when we are dealing with a homicidal giant robot who wants to drop this bomb on Ba Sing Se? Where your relatives live. I am ticked off, but I am glad that both of you are alright."

Mako sighs in frustration knowing that his anger gave him false cause to shout at them. "Me too, sorry."

Opal nods with a warm smile to acknowledge his apology and turns to Aegis." Where do you think she is heading?"

****"I..I do not know. Stratus has far more combat experience than I do. She was in charge of protecting our Leader and dealing with hostile threats to our survival for thousands of years. I, I'm just a security guard." Aegis looks away from them in defeat.

****Korra could see everyone was on edge. They needed to find that bomb and quick. _If the bomb isn't here then... "_Asami? Is your tracker still picking something up?"

"Oh, uh. I don't know really, let me check it." She swiftly retrieves the device from her bag and activates it. A low beeping could be heard from it. Everyone looked at the tracker in shock. "The signal is getting weaker," she puzzlingly stated, "meaning it is going further away from us."

"You mean it's still heading for Ba Sing Se?", Bolin asked worriedly.

The engineer shook her head in response. "No, while this does have a limited range if it were still going to Ba Sing Se then it wouldn't be fading this strongly."

"But that makes no sense, "Aegis states. "The best use for the bomb would be to target a large, populated area. Where else could she..go, oh scrap." Hearing Aegis' exclamation of shock connects the dots for the rest of the group. 

Republic City was the target.

Aegis swiftly transforms, kicking up dirt as he swerved in the direction they need to go. "Get in!"

****Opal braced herself as Aegis slammed down onto the dirt after clearing a jump. The roar of his engine blared as the landscape blurred past them. She could see Asami was fiddling with the tracker trying to keep it locked on Stratus. The others were looking out the windows, looking around for any sign of her. Something was bothering Opal and she needed an answer.

****"I get the idea that she is heading for Republic City, but there are no trains this way. How is she transporting the bomb?"

"Well, she can fly," Korra replied as she continued to search the skies. "Maybe she is carrying it?"

****Aegis spoke through the speakers of the console. "I would have to agree with you Avatar. She must be taxing herself to do it though. Her vehicular form isn't meant to carry such things. "Mako poked his head between the front seats: " So she'll be slow?"

"Slow to maneuver yes, but she still has speed. I think she will have to keep on an even flight path. However, even if we are to catch up to her she can fly at a height of nearly fifty thousand meters."

"Well can't you just shoot her down?"

"My weapons don't have that kind of range. Not to mention if I do manage to bring her down she could still set off the bomb. Whatever happens, it must not detonate." Opal chimes in, a hint of hope had emerged from a thought. "But if it exploded out here it wouldn't damage Republic City, right? Everyone would be safe."

"Doesn't matter, you don't want that bomb to go off at all."

****"Then let's just focus first on catching up and spotting her." Korraspoke, trying to keep everyone's hopes up. "We'll worry about bringing her down when we get there." She grabs the radio receiver from the dashboard. "Aegis can you connect me to.."

Aegis' radio crackles. A familiar voice could be heard from the clearing static. "Need a lift Miss Sato?"

Asami smiles in astonishment. "Miia?!" The group looks out the windows to see the airship descending ahead of them, hovering a dozen feet above the ground.

Aegis spoke in earnest, "Pilot Miia please hold yourself steady at that altitude and maintain your speed." Everyone in Aegis hears mechanical whirring and a gentle clanking as the wheel hubs extend out from the body, connected by a myriad of cables, wires, and rods. Korra asks with a hint of concern, "Uh, Aegis. What are you doing?"

"Jumping." He pushes off, the gang could feel their stomachs drop as they soared through the air followed by a great clunk as they land into the cargo bay. Taking a moment to absorb what just occurred Bolin spoke what was on everyone's mind.

"Let's never do that again."

Quickly piling out of Aegis the krew make their way to the bridge. They feel heavy on their feet as the ship swiftly rises into the clouds. "Sorry about that," Miia spoke with an apologetic smile. She pulls the speed gauge for full thrust. "Trying to catch-up with whatever that thing was our spotters saw on our way over."

"Why are you here?", Asami asked clearly perplexed by her ship and crew's presence. "I thought you aiding Suyin with taking the sick victims to a hospital?"

"We were, but Suyin's people surprised us by being halfway there and they took charge of them. She said you might need us, so we came back as fast as we could." She worryingly switches her gaze to the speedometer. "While I try to see things in a positive light, I don't see us being able to catch up to this Stratus before she reaches her destination and I'm already pressing the engines to their limits."

Korra could hear Asami and Miia run through a list of possible solutions to solve their need for more speed, each one being shot down for various reasons, be it lack of equipment or limitations of the ship's design. Asami groaned in frustration. "Ugh. If only that jet engine was finished! I would've had the darn thing installed. We would have a shot at catching up to her."

Miia asked, "You mean that weird cylinder thing that shoots fire out one end?"

"Yeah. It's still too unstable for use."

The bright light of a sudden idea ignites in Korra's mind. "I've got it!" Everyone looks to her. "We need more thrust, right? Well, you've got me and Opal here."

"Korra, what are you saying?", Asami asks trying to follow her train of thought.

"I'm saying me and Opal go up top and give the airship more speed. Well, I would with my firebending, but Opal would be needed to help keep the ship steady with her airbending. At the speeds we'll need I would only be able to focus on keeping it up and not on keeping us in a straight line."

"Sounds like a plan," Opal spoke with confidence. "I'm in." She looks over to Bolin who returns a worrying look as a silent conversation goes on between them, but it softens into a smile of agreement.

"But how will you keep yourselves on the ship?", Bolin asked. "Wouldn't you just fly off?"

Korra thinks over a solution and dubiously responds, "Well I could metalbend some cables to keep us in place?" Asami is quick to chastise her. "Oh no, you don't! You will only hurt yourselves that way. I have something better. I want you, Mako, and Opal to head up top. Bolin and I will meet you there." She turns to her pilot. "Miia keep us on course. I will stay in contact via intercom."

****After making their way through a series of corridors, stairs, and laddersKorra, Opal, and Mako finally arrive at the service hatch for the roof of the airship. They could hear the whistling wind outside through the thick iron door. Appearing at the opposite of the hall was Asami and Bolin, carrying two leather harnesses and multiple cable anchors slung over their shoulders. Mako quickly steps forward to hold onto the cables while they get the girls into their full-body harnesses. After double-checking the straps Asami heads to the service hatch. She addresses her friends, "When we get out there just follow me. Stay low, move slowly, and use the metal framework out there for handholds. We are moving at very high speeds right now." The group nods in acknowledgment. Asami releases the locks and opens the hatch.

Howling, cold wind greets them on the roof. The vertical propellers drowning out the sounds of anything else that is not their own. Asami is the first to step out. She crouches and slowly moves forward, carefully using the framework to move along as she stated to keep steady. The others mirror her movements and follow her to the back of the ship near the tail fin. Asami moves over to Bolin taking the multiple short cables and heads back to her previous spot, motioning Mako and Korra to come over to where she stood.

She points Korra to stand at a space surrounded by the ship's metal framework. After showing Mako how and where to connect one end of the cables they get work securing the Avatar. Mako would clip on one end and Asami would take the other, clipping it onto the framework. Soon a spiral web of thin metal cables held the Avatar in place. Finishing their task Asami goes to hold her loves head close, eyes silently asking if she is sure about this. Korra brings her into a tender kiss and with a smile gives a thumbs up. Korra looks on as Asami leads the others to the next location.

****Opal's spot was far more spacious than the previous one. The framework is more spread out leaving large patches uncovered. Asami's motions for Opal to stay put while Bolin fastens his end of the cables on her while Asami and Mako make the long treks to secure their ends. Upon clipping the last cable to her leather harness Bolin takes Opal into a tight hug whispering into her ear to stay safe.

****The remaining trio head back to the service hatch. Upon re-entering the ship Asami heads straight for the intercom panel. "Miia? Have everyone brace themselves. We will be getting a speed boost soon. Just try to keep us on target."

****"Aye aye Ma'am." Miia switches the channel for engineering to speak with the chief. "Donel? I'm going to need you to keep an eye on our stabilizer engines. We are going to push them way past tested stress levels."

A rich, thick accent spouts from the other line. "I don't like what I am hearing Miia. Word has it the Avatar is going to give us a ripe kick in the keister, so to speak. You do remember this ship is still a prototype? Everything is too damn delicate right now ."

Miia sighs in reluctance. "I know Donel, but Asami is counting on us, on everyone."

"True enough. Ok, let's do this and just hope things don't get too nasty ."

"Thanks, Donel. I'll keep this line open between us. Let me know of any changes," Miia switches back to Asami. "We're ready ma'am."


	20. Unorthodox Proposal

Asami nods at Mako who opens the hatch and strikes into the air, shooting out a large puff of flame.

Korra and Opal see Mako's signal from the service hatch. She could hearRavaa from within. "_**This will hurt**_." "I know," she agrees, "but this was my idea and it's the only one that has a chance of catching up to Stratus." Closing her eyes, she readies herself for the strenuous task ahead of her. Once again she reaches out to join Ravaa with her own spirit. The power surges through and the Avatar State awakens. She leans forward, letting the harness hold her up and stretches her arms out behind her at a symmetrical angle. Focusing on the heat within she expels it out of her fists, creating intense jets of flame. She channels more of their power and the flames begin to grow in size. The harness tightens around her, its cables going taut as they resist the immense propelling force she generates. The clouds at first slowly pass by them, but steadily they gain speed as the furthest clouds ahead quickly meet them. She could see Opal whirling around the deck on far-forward, blasting mighty gusts of air to help Miia keep on course through the turbulence.

Alarms sound off warning Asami and engineering staff that the airships' creaks and groans were a sign of stresses it was never meant to handle. Gripping the ship's wheel tightly, Miia struggles to maintain the course as she felt them sway to and fro. "Donel?! How is she holding?"She could hear a slew of curses come from the speaker.

"I think the alarms were a dead giveaway of how we're holding! All of the rivets and welds are struggling to hold the ship together. I'll do what I can from here, but she can't take this for long. Donelout." Miia could feel her entire body shake as the ship vibrates from smashing through the air.

"Hello? Hello?! Can someone tell me why the ship is shaking?" It was Aegis on the intercom.

Miiacarefully switches over to the channel while holding onto the wheel. _I better keep this short. I can't afford to talk and drive at the same time right now._"Hey Aegis. Korra is giving us a speed boost right now and it's threatening to pull the ship apart at the seams." Silence comes from the other end.

"WHAT?!"

****The wind roared past Korra as she poured their strength to maintain the intense flames from her fists. She could feel the fatigue beginning to build as her vast reserves slowly drained. The leather harness, comfortable at first, now dug into her dark brown skin as the cables held her onto the ship. She could tell that Opal was straining from her efforts as well, but her training under Tenzin and his family showed. She was more of a calm centered in the eye of a hurricane feeling the shifting of the airship and majestically adjusting them back on course with careful and precise movements to not waste her own strength.

****Mako, Bolin, and Asami regrouped on the bridge to help the crew search the skies for Stratus. Mako is the first to spot her in the distance, pointing and shouting, "There she is!" Following his finger, everyone sees the growing dot ahead.

Bolin notices something, "Is she going down? We're going to be above her when we catch-up."

"Why is she doing this?", Asami ponders. "Miia, what is our current position?"

"We are on the edge of the Hu Xin area, just over Xiyan Lake. Still on course for Republic City." Asami activates the intercom for the cargo hold. "Aegis? We have Stratus insight, but her altitude is decreasing. Do you know why she might be doing this?"

Aegis' mind works fast to come up with an answer. "She is probably gliding to save on energon. She might be thinking that we can't stop her and if she hasn't reacted to our presence at this point then she isn't paying attention to her scanners. Are you still gaining on her?"

"We'll reach her soon, but I don't know how much longer Korra and Opal can keep this up." The airship gives another nerve-racking shudder."Same goes for my ship."

_Then we have little choice_."Miss Sato? When we catchup I need you to do something for me."

"What is that?"

"I want you to drop me on her."

Asami is stunned over his request. "Are you insane?! Even if we could get above her what if you miss? How would you get the bomb off her? And then there's the fall afterward, it would kill you.. right?"

"Getting the bomb off her should be easy since her vehicle form wouldn't have the proper strength to keep someone else from taking it and I can survive this fall easily. You just roll on the landing." Asami thinks over his proposal, unsure what to do till she hears fromAegis again. "Miss Sato, neither the Avatar, Miss Beifong or your ship can keep this up forever. Get us to Stratus and drop me. I will not miss."

****"Alright", she sighs in resignation, "we'll do it your way. I'll be down in a few minutes. I have something you can use on the bomb." Asami turns to Mako and Bolin, "I need you two to go back to the service hatch and be ready to get the girls down." They nod and run back to wait for Asami's word, while she rushes off to the cargo hold with her duffle bag in tow.

****Beads of sweat drip from Korra and Opal. Their limbs felt heavy like lead and vast reserves of chi stretched thin. _We have to be getting close. _Her thoughts turn to Asami. _Please hurry honey._

****Asami rushes through the corridors making her way to Aegis in short order. Over the ship-wide intercom, she hears Miia speak, "Ma'am we are almost over the target." She presses herself harder than ever, her leg muscles burning and lungs feeling heavy from the strain. Entering the room she reaches out and grabs the side railings of the ladder, using her momentum to swing around into position and slide down into the cargo hold.

****She removes a round, metal, dome-like device with wires interlaced into internal components from her duffle bag. "You need to take this with you. It will jam the radio receiver transmissions on the bomb." The car door opens, "Put it on the seat." She does and the door closes. Asami walks over to the door controls and bypasses the safety systems to open the cargo bay doors. Alarms blare and warning lights flash as the doors open with a rush of cold, turbulent wind greeting the two. Aegis slowly wheels back out and falls out of sight.

****Closing the door she presses on the intercom for Mako and Bolin location. "Aegis is out. Get the girls off of the roof!" Mako opens hatch blasting a few thin lines of fire to signal for them to stop. The weary benders cease their straining acts and collapse. Mako heads for Korra, while Bolin tends to Opal holding onto the tired benders as they carefully unhook them from the ship and slowly bring them inside.

****They make their way back to the bridge lounge. Both Korra and Opal breathed heavily as their bodies tried to recover from exhaustion. Entering the expansive room the brothers gently sit the girls down on the chairs to rest. Bolin runs off to a nearby cart while Korratiredly asks, "Did we.. did we catch-up to her?" Mako confirms with a nod too focused on watching Korra and Opal for signs of health problems to answer with words. Bolin returns handing them each a glass of water. They quickly guzzle down the contents and Bolinruns back to refill their glasses.

Korra, noticing she was missing, asked, "Where's Asami?" Not a moment later she comes running through a door panting from exertion, but breathes a sigh of relief seeing Koran and Opal were present.

"I'm glad you two are alright." She walks over to Korra, grabbing a chair along the way, and sits to take a moment to relieve her legs.

Opalspeaks between taking sips from her cup, "A bit winded, but we'll be fine. Where were you running from in such a hurry?" The trios' bodies go stiff with their eyes wide, forgetting that someone needed to tell them of events they weren't privy to.

Asami was the one to break the news. "Uh about that, we need to get down to the surface."

Opal and Korra remained puzzled before asking, "Why?"

"I uh, I dropped Aegis out of the cargo bay, at his behest," she quickly adds, "so he could grab the bomb off Stratus."

****Korra and Opal looked at Asami in shock spouting, "You what?!"

"It was his idea. He urged me to do it because he was worried that the ship and you two couldn't hold out much longer." Bolin chimes in to bring up the matter at hand. "We have to help him. He can't take Stratus alone he said so himself." Feeling their strength slowly returning Korra and Opal rise from their seats. A determined look as strong as marble etched on the Avatars' face, "Then let's get going."


	21. Pressured Disarmament

"This has to be one of the worst ideas I have had in a thousand years. Definitely in the top ten." Layer upon layer of cloud Aegis's vehicle form fell through. _Easy..._Closer and closer he falls towards Stratus. _Steady..._Now, mere moments away from passing her Aegis acts. He transforms, grabbing the device Asamihad left inside him and spreading his limbs to catch as much of the air to, relatively, slow him down. He sees Stratus off in the distance below him, gliding through the sky. _Welp. Here goes nothing_.

****He pulls in his arms to his sides and legs together, streamlining his body to fall faster towards his target. He lands square on Stratus'back and grabs onto her wings. Desperately holding on as they tumble down to the earth below. _Need to.. get.. under... her. _Taking a chance he times his move with the twirling forces to aid him and swings around a wing to her underside, grabbing the bomb. He places Asami's' jammer onto it. The devices' panel lights up and claws magnetically latch out onto the bomb, taking hold of it. Using the bomb as leverage he props his legs up on the underside and pushes, trying to wrestle it free from her grip. He closes his optics, focusing on his efforts to get free. _Come on! Just drop the damn thing already. _Suddenly Aegis felt nothing solid beneath his feet. _What the? Am I flying? _Opening his eyes he finds the answer to be a resounding no as he falls to the ground. "Oh."Holding onto nuke he lands feet first, changing his momentum from downwards to horizontal as he safely rolls along to a stop.

****Aegischecks the bomb for any signs of damage and finding nothing sighs in relief. He hears the faint roar of engines in the distance."I better get moving and find a place for this."He dashes across the flat plains mumbling to himself. "Stupidbomb, too fricking big to transform and drive."The roar grows louder. "GAH. Where is a cave when you need it?!"He comes to a stop and set down the bomb, drawing out his light guns. "Welp, if there aren't any around. I'll make my own slagging cave." Pointing his weapons ahead he blasts away at the hard earth.

****_Come on. Come on._He squeezes the triggers as fast as the servos in his fingers could go. _She'll be here any minute! _A stream of bright lights crashes into the ground ahead of him, kicking up dust and debris. "Please let this be enough," he prays as he stops to let the wind clear his view. "Yes!"He holsters his weapons and takes the bomb to the freshly dug cave. A trail of smoke floated out of its mouth. Kneeling down, he could see the inside of it is black as charcoal and only big enough for humans to walk in. He reaches and gently slides the bomb inside all the way to its end. The roaring sound of powerful engines reach their zenith and all goes silent. A loud crash and cracking of earth sound behind him, as though something heavy dropped from above. Aegis could feel the dread tug on his spark.

****He turned to his old friend who stood before him under the morning sunlight. Aegis could now see how much in a bad shape she was in. Her bright colors of blue and white popped by black highlights were now tarnished with cuts, dents, dirt, and, most of all, rust. So many patches of rust-covered her body. Her bright, willful green eyes were now nothing more than a blank gaze. She looked like a hollow shell of her former self, but Aegis still wanted to try to reach her.

****_It's now or never_."Stratus? Do you recognize me? It's me, your friend, Aegis. Remember?"He takes a step towards her. "You were there when I was a fresh protoform. You raised me, helped me figure out my alt-mode, even got me a job when no one else wanted me." He waits for any kind of response to his words, but when silence was his answer despair crept on him. "What happened to you? Why did you do all of this?" All that was returned to him were faint groans. He takes a few more cautious steps towards her, almost within arms reach. "Please stop this madness and let me help you."

****Aloud click stops him cold as Stratus swiftly unholstered her plasma rifle, it's barrel pointed squarely at him. "Stratus," he pleaded, "please." He would've said more if not for the scorching plasma shot to the chest, sending him crashing onto the makeshift cave. His momentum collapsing its fresh ceiling. He raises his head and sees a thin trail of smoke leaving the burned on dent left on him. "Ow."He turns over and struggles to his feet, joints and servos aching under the strain. With one foot and knee on the ground, he sees the shadow of Stratus loom over him. She lowers her weapon, daintily touching him on his shoulder with it. Her aim meant for a killing blow on his brain module. _She's getting sloppy._

****Twisting his body Aegis so that he falls down on his back again he uses his right arm to shove Stratus' aim off his head. Quick drawing his lightgun Aegis fires a charged shot, stunning her just enough to retrieve his second gun from its holster, firing a dual charged shot. The impact of his weapons brings Stratus down to a knee. Aegis quickly rises and runs at her, tackling the larger bot with his left shoulder and pushing both of them away from the collapsed cave.

Korra and Opal depart from the floating airship, twisting the air below to create a cushion to soften their landing. Bolin bends the earth to make a ramp for him and the others to slide down after. The overwhelming drone of the airships' engines fades as it flies away from the area.

****They see Aegis off to the far right doing his best against Stratus as they exchange fire and blows. Korra immediately takes control of the situation. "Asami, take Bolin and Mako, find that bomb, and do what you need to disarm it. Opal and I will go help Aegis." The krew split off to their tasks.

Asami, Bolin, and Mako run to the collapsed cave. Bolin excavates the bomb from the rubble while the other two keep a lookout if Stratus broke through the defensive line of those keeping her occupied. He creates a rectangular platform for the bomb to rest on and moves it away from the intense fight. "This should be far enough," Asami said. Though she was relying more on gut feeling than fact.

"I'll go and help the others," the sound of determination flowed from his words. Bolin takes a moment to look at the bomb then to his brother and close friend. "Good luck you two. Stay safe." He runs off to join the battle.

****"So how do we open this up?", Mako worryingly asks. Asami pulls out the blueprint from her satchel and inspects it. "Hmm, from the looks of it we need to get this panel off first." She takes out a piece of chalk and makes a rectangular marking on the casing. "After that, I'll need to splice some wires to bypass a few alarms and traps, then it's just removing the catalyst." She lets out a stressful sigh."You'll also need to precisely control the length and intensity of your flame. Too long or hot and you'll damage a wire which could set it off."

****"But if it's too short or cold then I can't cut through the casing or cut it at all." He rubbed his temples to try and bring relief to the mounting stress. "No pressure." He kneels down beside Asami and focuses his flame at the tip of his finger. The color-changing from orange to red to blue. He nods to Asami who brings out two optical shields for their eyes. Holding his shield Mako brings his finger to the panel and slowly follows the chalk outline, creating a shower of sparks.

****Asami looks on as Mako steadily cuts into the metal casing making a silent prayer to the spirits that nothing goes wrong. She could see him sweating as he struggled to keep himself steady as the earth rocked from the battle that was going on not far from them. Noticing that he was close to finishing she retrieves a long metal stick with a black metal slate welded on and gently places it on the metal cutout. The magnet firmly attaches itself to it. She holds firmly as Mako cuts the last twinge of metal, completing the cutout, and lifts it away to expose the wires and circuits within the bomb. They both take a moment to sigh in relief. "Great job Mako," she says while setting the stick and cut out aside. "Go help Korra and the others. I can take it from here."

"Alright, but.." He quickly hugs her whispering, "Please be careful." He sets off to join his friends. Asami gets back to work retrieving her small electronics tool kit from her handbag. She turns on a small flashlight for proper work-light and places it in her mouth. She gets to work on sorting through the massive tangle of wires to disarm the weapon of mass destruction.

****Mako returns to see Aegis still struggling with Stratus, while his friends had formed a circle around them. Opal was beside Bolin using their respective bending styles to tag team and off-balance Stratus, be ita torrent of blinding wind with a boulder that followed or getting her foot stuck in magma, their precious help allowing Aegis to maintain his offensive. Korra floated atop of a whirlpool of air that carried her above the battlefield. She was everywhere with her bending; using her fire to momentarily blind Stratus, earthen barriers to shield her friends from counter-attacks, and using a blast of water to aid in putting her off-balance. Mako steadies himself as the fight raged on focusing his chi into lightning. I just_ need to wait for my opening._

****A bead of sweat trails down beside Asami's' temple as she worked on wire after wire, cutting and splicing in a slow, rhythmic pace. _Almost there. Just a few more. _While she was sure her understanding of the inner workings of the bomb was sound it was still unnerving that she was currently defusing this weapon. Carefully sifting through the seemingly endless bundles of wires she splices a few more of their number together and cuts the last one. _That should do it._

****A soft hiss is heard from within the bomb. Asami looks to the blueprints a final time to make sure of where it should be and reaches in. Her slender fingers find purchase on a metallic cylinder and carefully pulls it free from its mourning. She takes out the catalyst and places it within a lead canister then placed that into her bag. Taking the flashlight out of her mouth she says, "There, now to just quietly sneak this away." Stepping out of the collapsed cave she stands in awe of the intense battle raging before her.

****Mako waits patiently for his moment to strike and notices Aegis had tossed over Stratus' shoulder landing face-first into the ground. _NOW_. He unleashes the torrent of chi built within him, the air cracking from its energy. His strike flows towards its target surely to hit. Mako falls to his knees feeling weak from the strain of building and holding onto such a large amount of unstable chi. "Gotcha," he breathes and watches, to his shock, the horror unfold.

****He saw Aegis rising to his feet as Stratus rockets backward, away from one of Bolin's attacks, jets of fire igniting from her feet, and lands in front of the weary Aegis. She stares directly at Mako and the streak of lightning heading towards her and pushes Aegis right into its path. "NO!", he cries.

****Aegisscreams in anguish as the lightning courses through him. Its power burning his circuits from the inside and locking his servos. He is powerless to move as Stratus brings her rifle to bear, the insides of the barrel glowing brighter and brighter. _So..this is how I die._

**CRASH**

A column of earth juts out from below into her torso, knocking her aim off and slightly lifting her off the ground. In a great cry of fury, she smacks it away, resets her aim, and fires the weapon. Standing in its path, on a raised pillar of earth, was the Avatarempowered to her peak in the Avatar State. She braces herself against the blast, her arms reaching out and catches it. The chaotic energies continually threaten to break free from her control, scorching the palms of her hands. Dripping with sweat from her titanic effort and reacting on pure instinct she flows with the momentum of the blast on the palm of her left foot and spins, sending it right back.

****If Aegis had a mouth it would have gaped as he was stupefied to see this little human catch and throwback an ion blast from Stratus. His optics follow the blast as it pierces through the left side of her torso. Stratus doubles over clutching her wound, energon freely leaking. He looks back at Korra and sees she had fallen unconscious.

****Asami runs to her dearest as she sees her falling to the ground. She slides to Korra's side, feeling her neck and checks her pulse while watching her breathing, finding both fast and labored, but steady. _Thank the spirits. _Directing her attention back to the battle she sees Aegis struggling against Stratus as she wildly fires her weapon. "BOLIN!", she shouts and a thick wall of earth springs from the ground behind her and Korra, ablating the searing shots that strike it. She peeks out from the corner and sees Bolin with Opal pressing their backs against their own wall for protection.

"Oh, spirits I hope this holds out," Opal states. She takes a look to see how the others were doing. "I wonder if.." She sees Asami dangerously leaning out of here cover gesturing for them to come hither. A spray of shots slings through the air forcing them both to quickly retreat behind their dwindling defenses. "Honey?"

"Yeah?" Bolin meekly responds.

"Do you think you can move these things," gesturing to the wall, "with us along with Mako's?"

Bolin thinks it over for a second, "Yeah... I can do that. Why?"

"Asami wants us to come to where she is. I think she has a plan."

"Damnit all!" Mako shouts as he pounds the wall with his fist. "I should've waited longer." He replays the scene over and over in his head, mentally looking for anything that he should've noticed. He groans in frustration. "Get it together Mako. Everyone still needs you and Korra looks", he says while looking out from his spot, "ok, hopefully, or else Asami would be.." He shakes his head to knock sense into himself. "Can't think that right now. I need to figure out how to get over there." The battered earthen wall of rock started to slide away from him closer to Asami and Korra. "What the?" He thought for a moment and smiled upon realizing that it must be his brother. He follows along keeping himself completely covered from the clashing of titans on the other side. Occasionally he could see the shadows were getting closer, but they would quickly move away. "Aegis is really trying to keep her busy."

He follows along as his slab met and nestled against Asami and Korra's. Crouching over he sees the Avatar resting on the ground, Asami's coat under her head as a cushion. He asks her, "How is she doing?"

"Her breathing and pulse have been stable, but they just started to relax. Whatever she handled really did a number on her."

They both hear the grinding of earth and look up to see that Bolin andOpal had joined them. "Good work on moving our covers togetherBolin."

"Thanks, though it was Opal's idea. How's Korra?" Asami reiterates what she had said to Mako. "Phew that is good to hear, but what do we do now?"

"We keep fighting," Asami says. "We need to get rid of that weapon Stratus is using first." A plan quickly forms in her mind. "Bolin I need you to get a spike into the barrel of the weapon, then melt it. That should render it useless." She points to Mako and Opal, "I need the two of you to help Aegis immobilize Stratus, so that Bolin gets his shot." "I'll stay with Korra and get Miia on the radio."

****Mako and Opal ready themselves, nodding to each other. Popping out they see Aegis still struggling against Stratus despite her being injured and the strange pink fluid seeping out. Stratus tosses him aside and lowers her weapon at him.


	22. A Crashing Climax

"NOW!" Opal yells. Her outburst gains the attention of the titan whose face is greeted with fire and a gale wind to their shin courtesy of an angry fire and air-bender. Their attacks unbalance Stratus, sending her crashing face-first to the ground with their weapon pointed at them.

****"You're up little bro!", Mako shouts. Bolin reaches into the earth with his chi, molding the rocks into a cylinder. He widens his stance and slowly exhales as he brings his hands together crushing one end into a fine point. He rotates the spike with the pointed at the barrel and throws it home. The spike disappears into the length of the weapon's barrel. Bolin then focuses his chi on heating until it becomes molten lava. It's heat melting the critical components in Stratus' weapon.

****"Get to cover!," Asami shouts to her friends. Stratus slowly rises as they dash back into hiding, catching a glimpse of a little leg and foot disappearing. Snarling in rage she aims her weapon and pulls the trigger.

**BOOOOOOOM**

****The plasma weapon blows in her hands leaving them badly scorched with her metal skin melted and half of a ruined weapon, electricity sparking out from the unconfined power source. She stares at her injury, her hands shaking.

"That weapon of hers is done for," Opal reported as she leaned out for a look, "but she is still standing."

****"Not for long," Asami declares. "Bolin, we need a dome and make it thick."

****"Why?", he asked clearly confused about her request. Asami simply points up and her friend's eyes follow. "Oh." Bolin clamps together two halves of the much-needed dome. Above them was Asami's ship on a direct collision course with its target: Stratus.

"Uh, Asami?"

"Yes Bolin?"

"What about Aegis? Does he know of your plan?"

"....shit."

**KAABOOOOOOMMMM**

****The very earth beneath quakes from the explosive collision. Dust falls from the domes' ceiling as it strains against the outside forces that threaten to collapse it. The group huddles together, protecting one another from the dangers occurring a few feet outside of their refuge.

****"This was definitely not in the employment brochure," Miia mocked her situation. "Welcome to Future Industries where you make the future. Along with the occasional wrecking such a beautiful piece of engineering made with sweat and blood." Tears of wounded pride well-up in Miia's eyes as she busied herself with jury-rigging an apparatus to keep the ship on course. "Next ship is going to have some kind of damn auto-pilot," she says with a grunt. Her sounds of effort and clanking of tools echo through the empty ship, her crew long evacuated. "Almost there.. and.. set." A series of pulleys and ropes held together with duct tape cover the steering wheel and controls. "This should hold long enough," she says while taking a look at the altimeter. "Uh oh.. I really need to get out of here."She grabs her parachute and dashes off to the nearest escape hatch. The collision warning sirens spurring her to run faster and make her escape.

Aegis had felt pain before. The pain of false rounds scoring hits while practicing maneuvers to keep his skills as a security guard sharp. The pains from his private combat training sessions with Stratus. But he had never felt his kind of pain until now. The kind of pain that seeps into your whole being. It steals your strength leaving you feeling weak and powerless, but the worst thing it leaves behind is the fear. The terrible fear that clawed at his spark. The fear of death.

And yet something deeper within that same spark spurred him on. Something indescribable that let him push past his aching joints, the dirt and grime, and leaking energon to stand up once more. Normally he would feel triumphant except those feelings were overshadowed as his optics gazed upon the airship coming down on him. Only one word came to mind that summed up his thoughts on this approaching event.

"...scrap."

_I can't get away in time.., but maybe. _He finds Stratusstruggling to transform for her getaway. "Oh no you don't!" He tackles her from behind, hooking his arms under hers'. She struggles furiously to wretch away from his grasp. Aegis holds steadfast as his face and arms are battered with blows from her elbows and crushing hands. He could feel this newfound strength waning. _Come on Aegis. Just a little longer. _He falls onto his back still holding onto his shield. He feels Stratus had stopped struggling and then hears her scream in terror. Aegis closes his eyes and silently makes a terrified prayer to their maker. _Please, Primus let us get through this. PLEASE! _Then all goes dark.

****On the count of three, Bolin explosively jettisons the dome followed by Opal channeling the air around and extinguishes any flames near them. Asami, Mako, Bolin, and Opal stood ready to defend Korra, but were taken aback by the nightmarish scenery that was before them. The land scorched black as though someone had laid down fresh tar with seemingly countless small flames licking the air. The ships' wreckage littered the area.

"Do you think?.." Bolin solemnly half asked, not wanting to finish his question. His reply was silence as no one knew the answer even though one possibility was on their minds, but hoped reality would be kinder.

They hear a scraping of metal on metal and face its direction ready for whatever may come. Tension filled the air as it drew nearer. A giant figure could be seen limping through the smoke and as it came out everyone breathed a sigh of relief as it was Aegis. Soot covered him from head to foot with streaks of leaking energon from his wounds. He nears them and falls over, rolling himself onto his back and settles on some wreckage with a tired groan of effort.

"Ow."It was all he could weakly muster at the moment. Everything on and in him screamed from his internal warning sensors to his aching body. "So.. who's idea was it to drop an explosive ship on our heads?"

"That uh," Asami replied, "would be me.. sorry. It was a last-minute plan and I didn't think it through completely. If I hadn't.."

She stops as Aegis raised his hand to silence her. "It's alright. It was a good plan, risky as hell but good. Cybertronians are hard to take down. We can survive orbital reentry if we tried." He looks over and sees the unconscious Avatar. "Is she alright?"

**CRASH**

****An arm reaches through the wreckage behind Aegis, grabbing his neck and hoisting him up. The others cry out in terror as Stratus rises from the wreckage. The state of her body terrible to behold with gouging holes through her torso and thick thighs. Her limbs functioned on despite their mangled appearance with her plates half ripped open showing the circuitry beneath and her left, half torn,hand still holding her damaged rifle.

****Aegis struggles to wring himself free of her grip. "Get out of here! RUN! GAAH!!!!" His cries for his party to leave are cut short as Stratus shoves the damaged and electrified end of her rifle into his gaped side. Sparks of electricity danced over his body and he becomes silent and limp. Stratus extracts one of his weapons from their holster and tosses Aegis aside onto the ground. The lifeless body limply resting on debris.

****"Asami!", Mako shouts, "Grab Korra and get out of here. We'll hold her off." Bolin and Opal run with Mako to face Stratus. Asami hefts Korra into her arms and ran faster than she had ever done before. She hears shots fired in the distance behind her and then silence. The most horrifying thoughts enter her mind as she feels the trembling of the earth. And it was getting closer.

****Bolin hears Opals' advice to spread out and surround Stratus and follows through. He bends the earth beneath Stratus into lava while Opal and Mako distracted her. He looks up as he is finishing to see Stratusshouting in a garbled tone as she takes aim and fires. A fierce gust of wind throws Bolin out of the way. The shot missing him by a mere hairs length. He felt hands grabbing and lifting him up to his feet. He could hear Opal's voice.

****"Are you ok?", she asks.

Before he could answer a soft yellow glow shined to their right. The same glow from Aegis' weapons. On sheer reflex, Bolin threw up the thickest wall of rock he could muster. He feels the force of her weapon shatter their shield, it marks his ears with an endless pinging noise. He tumbles over and over on the ground, coming to a violent rest. The last thing he sees before darkness takes him is Opal laying on the ground ahead, struggling to reach out for him.

****Mako stood there in shock as he helplessly watched Bolin and Opal fall from Stratus' attack. Rage and fear-fueled his flames and actions as he brazenly dashed towards Stratus. "You monster!", he cried. Another shot flies past Mako as he dangerously propels himself through the air. He lands behind her and returns fire in kind. Again and again, he bobs and weaves through her shots, fruitlessly pummeling her with his flames. The titanic foe showing no signs of weakening under his assault.

****_Just keep hitting her face Mako. _He thought to himself. _She can't hit what he can't see. I just need to buy some time till._

**** **RAAAAAA!!!**

A thunderous cry of fury silences his thoughts. The air is filled with seemingly endless streaks of light as Stratus widely fires her pistol wherever Mako's flames emitted. Mako weaves through the shots as the dust caused by Stratus' shots polluted the air and clouded his vision.

***Cough cough*** Mako struggles to breathe as the dust bites into his lungs. _I need to get clear of here. _Choosing a random direction Mako runs, for what he hopes it to be, the edge of the dust cloud. Fortune smiles on him as he makes it through and collapses to his knees, his lungs profusely coughing to clear his airways. Breathing in precious air the hairs on the back of his neck stand in attention. Reacting on instinct he twists his torso and unleashes his lightning on the source, a lucky shot from Stratus. The lightning strikes the glowing shot and explodes with a mighty bang. The explosive shockwave strike Mako, flinging him back first into an outcrop of rock. The shock from the force of impact knocks the wind out of him. Tired and worn Mako feels his body gives out from the exertion and falls unconscious the last if his fading sight viewed was Stratus walking away.

****Sweat drips down her brow as Asami continues to run from the thundering sounds chasing her. She holds Korra tight in her arms. The Avataronly stirred once while Asami ran, but remained unconscious. _I really wish you were awake sweetie. Could really use your help. _She hears a distance roar and immediately seeks cover beneath two large slabs of wreckage that supported each other. Out of breath and fearful for friends and Korra's lives Asami makes the only choice she knows that she can make. Tearfully she lays Korra down on the soft dirt. "I'm so sorry," she whispers into her ear. "I can't carry you with me." She struggles to not weep at the rush of mournful thoughts that flood her mind. "I just want you to know that I would have gladly spent my life with you." She tenderly kisses Korra's head. "I love you." Asami backs away from Korra and runs out to face her destiny, whatever that may be.

****Without Korra to occupy her arms, Asami could make better use of her momentum by vaulting over debris instead of merely running around it, saving precious seconds. Keeping an eye on her right she sees Stratusshambling towards where Korra rests. She quickly takes a fist-sized rock and hurls it at Stratus, smacking her head. "I'm over here you overgrown toaster!" Stratus stared, for a moment, dumbfounded at Asami, breaking the silence with a deafening roar and chases after with renewed vigor crashing through anything in her path. "Oh shit," Asami bluntly as she fled once more.

****Closer and closer it came. Asami weaved around and vaulted over anything that might slow Stratus should she crash into it. The mech carelessly waded through anything in her path, nothing worked to slow her advance. Solely focused on the critical component that Asami carried. The engineers' hairs stood on end as they left the wind from Stratus'stride strike them. She sees the shadow of her pursuer swallow her own. She felt despair starting to take its hold on her, settling in the stomach as if someone had shoved solidified doubt down her throat. _Come on Asami! Keep running! _She hears something scraping the ground behind her.

****A sharp pain pierced Asami's ribs as she felt herself tumbling through the air. She lands hard on the ground, rolling to a stop. She clutches her side and gasps for breath, panic setting in. Another pain, this one in her arm quickly overtakes her senses. _Myarm.. it feels broken. Get up Sato! You can't end here! _With grit and determination, she slowly starts to crawl.

**** **STOMP**

****A gigantic metal foot crashes down, blocking her path. She wearily looks up and sees the barrel of Stratus' weapon pointed down on her. The shone behind the titan creating a dark silhouette that made it more of a specter of death. Tears flow from Asami's' eyes, knowing what comes next. "I'm sorry Korra."

**** **"RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!"**

****A deafening roar of focused rage rang out. The arm holding the weapon suddenly rises up and Asami sees why. A slim, metal figure, a little over three and a half meters, clung to Stratus' side had buried a dagger into her arm giving them the leverage to force it up. She hears a familiar struggling voice from the new arrival.

"Miss Sato! Run! Get out of here!"

****"Aegis?," Asami asked baffled by his current appearance. She watched as he quickly crawled and swung about Stratus' body, cutting and stabbing whenever he had a moment to spare before moving on. Adding to his advantage was his weight and momentum that threw off Stratus' already uneven balance making it all the more difficult for her efforts to catch him. Heeding his advice Asami rises to her feet and limps away, but stops to look back on them. She recalls how difficult it was for him to match her even with their help and how resilient Stratuscontinuously proved to be regardless of the damage she sustained. Something needed to be done. "This has to end here." She stashes her bag away under some debris and makes her way back to the fight.

_I should be terrified of fighting her, but right now... I haven't felt this alive in a long time. I feel like a new bot! _Aegis scampered about with surprising speed and strength that belied his small frame, stabbing and cutting whenever the chance presented itself. His true form showed a sleeker, smoothly shaped, dark blue body with few hard edges or flat surfaces save for the soles of his feet and protective helmet. _I can't take her down like this. I need to strike a decisive blow. _Luck smiled on him as he spotted a glimmer of light from a large hole in her torso. _Korra cracked her spark casing?! If I can reach it I can end this__. _Stratus reaches down and swipes at Aegis who responds with a roundhouse punch to her face. He could feel something crack._ I just need a distraction._

****_Easy there Asami. One step at a time. _The engineer steadily climbed the wreckage of the airships steel ribs that once gave the balloon its oval shape. Reaching its peak she could see the fight below. Aegis was slowly backing Stratus into the wreckage she stood on. Stratus receives an uppercut to the chin flinging her head up. Asami could see that the left eye was cracked open. _Perfect. _Crouching down she modifies her electro-shock glove. _A large sustained burst should do the trick. _She grimaces over the possibilities of what will happen when she does this. _Well at worstI'll die, at best... first degree burns? _She gathers her courage and stands, readying herself to take the plunge. She takes a breath to calm her nerves, "Here goes nothing." She looks below to eye her landing, leans forward, and lets gravity do the rest.

****_Smart move Aegis. _The security bot berated himself. _You got her cornered, but what now? Hope she dies of rust? _"Gah!"Stratus gets a strike to his chest nearly causing Aegis to lose ground. _And that's what I get for not paying attention. _Stratus had become desperate lashing out like a wild animal. _I'm gonna need a miracle from Primus to end this._

***THUD* **"Aegis," Asami shouts, "hold her still!"

****Thinking quickly he strikes at Stratus' knee, stunning her movement while he grabs her left arm and slams it against the steel beams. He shoves his makeshift blade through her elbow. Stratus howls in pain as he bends the handle into a crude hook, firmly pinning it. He grabs the other arm and twists it, holding firm. "Whatever you are going to do Miss Sato, do it now!"

****Asami activates her glove, its modified commands overload the dispersing pad causing electricity to arc from her hand. Ignoring the piercing pain in her arm she takes hold of a protruding crest and plunges her gloved hand into Stratus' cracked eye-grabbing hold of a metal cord. The most agonizing cry of pain she has ever heard fills her ears as electricity violently courses through Stratus' body. Asami holds on tight as the arcing surge slowly heats the protective rubber-lined gloves.

****_Now's my chance!_Aegis plunges his left arm into Stratus' wound on her torso. Deeper and deeper he forces his way through feeling around her innards for his goal: the spark chamber. The very essence of a cybertronian that is housed within. _Come on, just a bit further._He struggles to keep Stratus' other arm at bay as it slowly drew closer to him. He feels something smooth and curved on the tips of his fingers. "There!"He abandons his defense and grabs Stratus' waist for leverage. He pushes his arm further in, up to his shoulder and takes hold of her spark chamber. Aegis looked up to his old friend and remorsefully whispered, "I'm sorry."He squeezes it.

****"AAARGH!!!!"Stratus momentarily freezes in place as she howls in pain once more. She takes her free arm and wildly bashes at Aegis, desperation trying to get him off.

****Aegis ignores the sting of the electricity and the bludgeoning of Stratus'fist. His mind and body focused entirely on this one shot to stop her. "Just a little longer Miss Sato!" Asami's' electro- glove had given out. Its power source spent. All she could do was hang on for dear life through the struggle. The spark casing creaks as Aegis slowly applied more and more pressure. He knew that while he could crush her spark, given enough time, but such sudden destruction could set off a devastating explosion. Slow and agonizing was the course of action here. _Come on.. come on!_

Filled with fear and unbearable pain Stratus screamed and thrashed in their conflict. Her spark casing giving way to Aegis' crushing grasp. It slight grew brighter and brighter as the inevitable came and then, just like a candle that burned too bright, it went dim. Stratus'movements slowed to crawl then she went silent. It was done. A frozen, seemingly lifeless statue was all that remained.

Aegis cautiously lets go of her spark chamber and retracts his arm from the hole. Panting to try and vent the heat his body had dangerously built up, "We did it."He could hardly believe that they won.

"Aegis?"

"Yes?"He had temporarily forgotten about his tiny ally. "Oh scrap! Let me help you."He reaches up with his palms out as a platform for Asami to stand on. Feeling her feet on them he steadily brings her back down to mother earth.

****Asami had never felt more tired before today. Everything felt bruised and battered. She could feel a thin trail of wet red sliding down her head down to her cheek. Worst of all her right arm was most definitely broken. Luck was with her that the gloves were able to protect her hands from being burned. Methodically she opened a compartment from her belt retrieving bandage cloth and fashions herself a sling. "This will do until I can get healed. Not looking forward to setting the bone back in place." She looks to Aegistrying to calmly think through the pain. "We should... we should check on the others. I'll find Korra and Mako. You check on Opal and Bolin." She watches as he merely nods and strides off to find them. _Probably too tired to talk. Do they ever get tired_? Shaking off her momentary lapse in thought she forces worn legs to march on.

****An eerie silence had fallen in the aftermath. The hard-earned calm only accompanied by the light crackling of flame and their own footsteps. Aegis had found Bolin leaning on Opal to walk as they went searching for everyone else though he had to quickly explain his appearance or else he'd receive a rock to the face. Asami managed to find Mako still unconscious, but was able to rouse him. After a quick check for injuries, Asami leads the way back to Korra's' resting place. They breathe a sigh of relief as they found her as she was, resting peacefully, completely safe and unaware of the outside world.

****The sound of clanking footsteps behind them revealed Aegis carrying Opal and Bolin in his hands. "How is she?"

"She seems alright," Asami replies. She feels for her girlfriend's pulse and measures it. "Breathing and pulse rates are normal, but it's too dark in this cover to do a proper visual inspection."

"I can help with that, "Aegis offers. He gently sets Opal and Bolin down and carefully remove the structures over Korra piece by piece, bathing the spot with warm, vibrant late morning light.

****Something was being very annoying. She could feel it on her skin. Her dark, cozy world was interrupted with loud brightness. She could hear voices call her out now. She tried to push away the evil that was morning. _Mmmph, just five more minutes, please. _It felt great where she laid. The warm, cozy, crumbly.. sheets? That isn't_ right. Sheets aren't crumbly, dirt is.. and I don't feel Asamiwrapped around me. _The memories of yesterday begin to surface and with them dreadful possibilities that shoved her into the waking world.

****With a gasp, she awakens. "Asami!" She feels hands quickly prop her up and an arm holds her before her eyes brought the world into focus. She knew who it was though, the smell of her hair gave it away.

****Asami tightly held her love, "Easy there sweetie. Everything is alright. All of us made it."


	23. A New Reality

When Korra was released she could see that Asami was right, though they were not unscathed. All of her friends showed signs of the aftermath of a vicious battle. Except she didn't recognize the tall metal one that stood with them. "Uh... Asami, who is that? "

****"Oh! That is Aegis," the metal man waved. "I don't know why he looks like that."

A nervous, mechanical chuckle from the new form is heard. "This is my real form. My other look is more or less a suit I house myself in. It's better suited for combat."

Korra asks, "And Stratus?"

Aegis begins to answer, but stops at the last moment. "We have company. Master Tenzin and your President Raiko are here." The krew turns to see that in the distance, Tenzin and many other airbenders flying towards them on their sky bisons. Raiko had come along at the head of a large platoon of tanks, riding a jeep.

****In her weary state it all seemed like it happened in a dream. Tenzinlanded with his brother (Bumi), sister (Kya), and family along with the other airbenders in tow. Kya immediately set out to check on the health of her battle tired friends. Asami had asked that they go check-up on her crew that had to evacuate the airship to which Tenzinsought that it was done. When Raiko arrived he expressed relief to see that everyone was alright, but instantly turned around and demanded that Stratus be destroyed after learning she was still alive.

****The feeling of cool water jolted Korra out of her day-dreaming state. She could hear Aegis arguing with Raiko.

****"Mr.President, I thank you for your support, but this is a matter that must be settled by my superiors and government. Stratus has broken the laws of my people and she must face justice for them. Until she is tried she can't be sentenced by someone of a foreign nation."

****"Laws which she broke on this world!", Raiko spouted. "And this world has rules on what needs to be done for those that break the law."

Korra,tired of hearing their arguing, steps in to finish it. "Rules that include that the accused has the right to a trial, or have you forgotten that Mr. President?"

"Trials are reserved for living, breathing people Avatar. They are machines, dangerous ones at that," Raiko replied. "We can't risk waiting for her to wake-up. What if she escapes and goes on another rampage? For the good of the world this machine must be destroyed."

"She won't Mr. President, "Aegis replied in a harsh, heavy tone. "She can't."

Korra asked, "What do you mean?"

"What I did to Stratus placed her in a state my people call stasis lock. It's an emergency mode that allows my people to survive traumatic injuries and wait for medical aid. Without that aid, she is permanently stuck like this."

****"Well if that is the case," Korra addresses Raiko, "then calling for her destruction is not necessary." She prays this settles the matter. She could feel her body screaming for rest.

"I agree with Avatar Korra," Tenzin stated as he joined beside her, "if an enemy is not a threat, then further actions are not warranted especially calling for their death."

Raiko huffs and quietly growls about the situation. "Fine! However, this will be a temporary solution. A meeting and a vote with the other nations will be needed to address this situation. In the meantime," he points towards Aegis, "you and this "Stratus" have caused enough trouble for everyone. Until the matter is settled both of you are to be placed under armed guard and taken to your base."

****"That is acceptable," Aegis solemnly replied. "I will await your decision." The group is dispersed with Aegis reluctantly escorted away by Chief Lin and her subordinates.

****A week goes by quickly during the group's hospital stay and recovery. Asami was later informed that her crew were found unharmed, though they were saddened over the loss of their ship. Korra, Asami, and her friends learned through Tenzin that temporary legislation was passed to quarantine the area of Aegis' base for the foreseeable future or until if by some chance he is able to leave. It is also instituted that a cover-up of the events that occurred is needed to maintain order and everyone is sworn to secrecy by word and signature. All materials related to these events were destroyed and forgotten to protect the populace.

****"You hanging in there sweetie?", Asami asked from beneath her vehicle. "You're being awfully quiet." She had been wanting to perform a maintenance check on her car, but the hydraulic lift suffered a breakdown threatening to delay her task. However, Korra offered to help as a replacement.

****"I'm doing fine," she replied with a bit of a grunt. "All of that training with Suyin is paying off." Beforehand Korra could only tilt one end of the vehicle up for her girlfriend to work on. Now she was bending the whole thing in the air. "I'm just thinking aboutAegis. Wondering how he and Stratus are doing." So many questions still lingered in her mind. _What are his people like? Are there benders among his own people? Will he ever be able to go home? Is he stuck here in that base forever? _Her spirited yearned for answers. "Asami?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think it is right that Aegis is forced to remain cooped up in that underground base of his? All alone?"

Asamiscooted out from under the satomobile, signaling to Korra who gently let it down. She sighs after grabbing a bottle of water and taking a sip. "I have wondered the same, but I am not sure what can be done. If the nations have decided that he has to stay there, then he has to, you know? He said so himself that he has to respect our laws. Maybe we should respect that?" She takes another drink. "Just like how I wanted to go with you to the South Pole. You wanted to be alone and I respected your wishes."

****"I know and I was wrong. I didn't want you to see me like that, weak; helpless; broken. When I arrived I felt so alone even with my parents and Grandma Katara there to help me recover. I think he feels the same way I felt because he couldn't save someone that is dear to him. I just know it. I can't stand here and let him do the same thing to himself. " Korra thinks about her next words. "I want to do for him what I should've let you do for me. To be there for him, if only to just stave off the loneliness." Lost in thought she feels Asamiwrap her arms around her.

"Then go to him and speak your mind. Even if he doesn't want to come out as you said, you can keep him company."

****She happily smiles and picks up her girlfriend, bringing her in for a loving kiss. "You know that I really love you?"

"I know," she hotly replies. "Now get going and be back for dinner." She leans in and whispers into the Avatar's ear. "We are having your favorite."

Spurred on by many thoughts she dashes over to Naga and hops on, riding off to see Aegis.

****Asami watches them disappear in the far distance. The smile that shone on her face gave way to one of a grim expression. She walks back into her garage and lowers the door, making her way to a mounted workbench. She opens the bottom left cabinet and pushes aside the false back panel to retrieve a set of scrolls. Unfurling them revealed blueprints of her new project. A set of plans for the future that somewhere within her she felt would be needed. "I am done losing the people I love. Never again." She grabs her phone to start making the necessary calls.

****Korra and Naga racethrough the streets of Republic City, taking whatever alleys and shortcuts they can to avoid rush hour traffic. Korra notices Mako and waves, who returns the gesture. She thinks about Bolin and Opal. _Everyone has gone back to their lives, but Aegis can't_. _He is stuck here_."He shouldn't be trapped in that cave." With swift, perpetuate speed they reach the outskirts in short order and head into the woods towards Aegis' dwelling.

****It was mid-day when Korra reached the deeper parts of the forest. Spirits of all shapes and sizes were abounding in this old region. She surmised it would be better to go on foot from here and found a safe pond for Naga to drink from. "Stay here and rest girl." She lovingly pets her polar-bear dog. "I need to go see a friend."Her faithful companion gave her a nuzzle and laid near the water, drinking it in.

****Korra ran through the dense forest, brushing against the edges of leafy branch and bush. _Almost there just a little... _Her train of thought was derailed when a large shadow blocked the light that shined through the thick foliage. Thinking quickly, she quietly whisks herself away with the aid of air and hides behind the trunk of redwood and listens.

"Dale? What are you doing over there?!"

Korra heard a hiss and click as though something opened. "I thought I heard something ma'am. It was something fast."

"It was probably just a river fox that got spooked. Return to base your shift is done for today."

"Yes ma'am." Another hiss and click, and the shadow moves away.

Korra breathes a small sigh of relief on avoiding discovery. She looks up to one of the redwood's many leaf heavy branches thinking, _Hmm, one of those should give me a proper vantage point to see the situation._

She silently propels herself to the closest branch to see what lay ahead. It was indeed a sight. Troops comprised of the earth, water, and fire nations, along with a squad of mech suits stood guard over the open entrance to Aegis' cave.

****_They really are serious about security here_, Korra thought while planning her next move. The guards operated in tight, circular groups covering all vantage points of entry on the ground. _My options are limited. Any action that gets me seen is out of the question._"Hmm," she quietly spoke to herself. "If I can't go through them or over. What about under?"She grins over her slyness.

****Korra quietly retreats from the branch down to earth and crouches, slowly moving herself perpendicular to where she remembered the room would be located. Making sure no one was around the Avatar stood tall and thrust her arms to the soil beneath. The earth opened as she parted her hands, making a deep hole large enough for her to fit. She jumps in, seals the entrance, and starts digging.

Aegis rhythmically tapped commands into the console that had become routine, wake up; tend to Stratus; check communications; make a log entry and check for anything that required repairs. Noticing that the consoles screen was glitching Aegis turned to retrieve some tools when he became startled by Korra's sudden entrance. "Hello Aegis. How have you been?"

****The bot breathes a long sigh of relief. "You are not supposed to be here. You should leave."He stares at Korra waiting for her next words or move, but the only thing she did was cross her arms and lean against a wall. _Note to self. The Avatar is incredibly stubborn. _He sighs, "I am managing. You caught me in the middle of my daily search for communication frequencies from space, but so far.. nothing."

Korra looks over to Stratus who laid on a table covered with a myriad of tubes that connected her to various devices. "And her?"

His eyes dart over to the still bot, then looked away in shame. "Her condition is unchanged. Stratus will be in stasis lock till she can be repaired, but I have neither the knowledge nor materials to do so. In spite of the situation and my own failings, I was able to attach her to this jury-rigged life support and monitoring system you see before you. I only need to check on her every few days to make sure everything is in working order." Thinking back on having to open his friend to preserve their life made him feel suddenly unsteady. He subtly grasps the console to lean on for support. "You need to leave Avatar."

****"Aegis?," she asked. "Why do you want me to leave so badly?"

****"Please believe me I wish you could stay," his voice weighed heavy with melancholy, "but protocol states that I must stay to monitor communications and wait for help. I must also cut off contact with you and the outside world. I am not allowed to interfere in its affairs. It is for your own protection."

****Weighing her options of response Korra asks, "How long do you think it will take for help to come?"

****Aegis hesitates on the answer, thinking over the wide variety of possibilities till they boil down to one conclusion. "I...I don't know. It is likely that we are stuck here forever."

****"Not happening," Korra bluntly stated. "You are not staying cooped up here underground while waiting for your people who may never come. Itis not right, it's inhumane."

****"You forget Avatar," Aegisspoke, "I am not human."

****"**THAT DOESN'T MATTER**!", the world seemed to shake as Korra shouted. "You are not some mindless, soulless machine! You are alive and you don't deserve to be hidden away because of who you are."

****_I wish I was so sure-footed as you_, Aegis thought. "Regardless couldn't leave if I wanted to. I do not have permission to do so. I must abide by the laws of your world."

****Korra sat cross-legged on the cold ground and deeply thought on a solution that would work for all parties and then it came to her. "Well, what if you were an ambassador?"

Aegis was clearly confused by the proposal. "What?"

****The Avatar quickly rose onto her feet. Her mind zipping through what she would need to do for this to work. "If can get the nations to recognize you as an ambassador of your people, you'll be able to leave this place and observe the world."

"But my technology-"

"You don't need or have to share your technology. I understand where you're coming from on that, but what we can share each other's experiences and culture. Both of us can learn much about each other."

Aegis hunched over, leaning even more onto the console for support. The weight of having to bear an uncertain future alone felt as though it would snuff his spark out. "Avatar. I .. I don't know."

"Aegis, please. You don't have to be alone. There is a whole world out there, filled with wondrous people. Maybe even a few friends?"

"Friends?"

"Yes, if you'll let them if you let me."

****What seemed like an eternity of silence passed as Korra patiently waited till Aegis spoke. "Al-alright. If you can get them to agree to your idea. I will join you outside, but you must have the details ironed out of where I can and can not go. They are already on edge as it is."

****Korra brightly smiled upon hearing his words. "Thank you Aegis. Just hang in there. I'll be back before you know it."

****Aegis watched and waited till Korra had disappeared into the hole. He slowly walks over to the sleeping Stratus whose monitors steadily beeped and asked, "Did I do the right thing?" He knew she couldn't respond, but he needed to talk to her even if she couldn't talk back. "I wish you were you again. You would know what to do, you always did."

****"What?!" Raiko shouted loud enough that the whole building probably heard him."You want this counsel of nations to recognize this machine as an ambassador?"

"Pretty much yeah," Korra bluntly stated. She originally had no love for politics even finding it annoying when dealing with it at the start of her Avatar duties, but in time Korra came to appreciate the idea and act of being able to calmly converse and dispute ideas. Well, as calmly as one can with certain people like Raiko present. "Mr. President I fail to see what the problem is with my request. When he is out there meeting people I will be there right beside him." That wasn't entirely correct, she knew that for this to pass a unanimous decision had to be reached.

****"The problem," Firelord Izumi spoke, "is that you wish for us to bestow a title that has rights and privileges. A title that is given to those who are living, not to something that isn't."

****"With all due respect Firelord Izumi, but Aegis is not a thing. He is alive just like you or me or anyone else here. He has thoughts and feelings. He can feel pain, he knows the gravity of taking a life. He can empathize and relate to others. And even more than that he has a spirit."

"Korra, there is something you should know," a pained, hesitant tone from her father, Tonraq. "Before you arrived we were discussing what to do about those two."

"What do you mean?"

"Given how the situation unfolded we were discussing whether or not the metallic beings called Aegis and Stratus should be allowed to live, "Desna flatly stated. He and Eska were not known for their levity.

The news stunned Korra. "What?! You can't be serious!"

"We are quite serious Avatar Korra," Raiko heavily stated. "You must understand. We have to think about the future of the world which, up until those two arrived, was plain and clear. Complete the reconstruction of Republic City, stabilize the Earth Nation lands, and strengthen our commitments and relations to each other which would lead to peace and prosperity for all. Now, all of that is threatened if the one remaining decides to go on a rampage."

Korra sternly looked at the president. "That won't happen."

"How can you be so certain of this?," Firelord Izumi asked. "Do you have any proof that can ease our worries?"

"I have already seen the proof! I went to see him today before coming here and I learned that despite having a future of being completely alone and unsure of rescue Aegis is resigned to stay cooped up underground forever just to protect us. He's afraid that if he were to come out we would learn something from his technology that would destroy us because we wouldn't be ready for it. He thinks of himself as some kind of disease that would contaminate our world, but I see him differently. I see a completely unique and amazing individual that shouldn't be shunned for what he is. A person who is honorable, courageous, and respects the word of others."

The council members looked down on their desks in contemplation, each of them wrestling with themselves over the choice they needed to make. Only Tonraq kept their eyes on the other members, sneaking a quick smile and thumbs up to Korra.

A loud clap echoed through the council chamber. "Well I have made my decision," spoke Ambassador Wu. "I agree with Avatar Korra and propose that we abandon our current position and recognize Aegis as an ambassador of his people. If he is willing to spend eternity in solitude after doing so much to help save our world, I think he is worthy of our trust."

ChiefTonraq stood, "I second this motion. Anyone that would risk so much to save total strangers deserves freedom and respect." He looks to his daughter, "And I would certainly like to get to know this person better."

"I do not know whether I can trust this Aegis. I feel we have only seen a glimpse of the destruction his people can cause," Firelord Izumi gave a hard look at Korra and sighed, "but I trust the Avatar. You have my vote."

"We are unmoved by your emotional argument," spoke Desna. "However, the actions of this metallic being speak for themselves," Esna finished their twins' statement. They took a moment to look at each other and said, "We approve the motion of recognizing Aegis as an ambassador."

A long sigh escapes from President Raiko. "It seems that I stand alone once again.

"Mr. President, I understand how you feel and where you are coming from, "Korra spoke. "You worry about not only the citizens of Republic City, but the people of the world because you have no idea who or what Aegis' people are like. You are afraid of him."

The president's hard face turned soft. The fiery energy replaced with tired embers. "Yes Korra, you are right. I am afraid. After what happened with Kuvira's attack with that terrifying machine of hers I grew a fear of a similar incident happening again. Then low and behold these titans fall from the stars and not only wreak havoc, but one nearly succeeded in wiping this city from the map. How can we trust the remaining one?"

Ambassador Wu spoke up. "Mr. President, what has Aegis done from the minute we agreed to help him stop Stratus?" The council member remained silent. "He has been nothing, but kind and courteous to us. He made it a priority to rescue the captured prisoners and taught us the immediate medical treatment they needed to survive. He was instrumental in solving Stratus' plot. Then after a grueling battle, you came with your army, wanting to destroy Stratus. Thankfully you relented, but you immediately confined him to that cave with no moment to remorse over his actions."

"I only did what I thought was best."

"Well, now you have a chance to do something different."

Raiko takes off his glasses to rub his brow, sighing with the weight of the decision he had to make. "Alright," he finally spoke, "alright. We'll have to fine-tune the details of this, but.. you have my vote. The motion passes."

****Korra restrains her enthusiasm and politely bows to the council thanking them for seeing clear, wise eyes and rushes off to deliver the news.


End file.
